Phoenix Love and Fire Fist
by passionateinterest
Summary: After using an evolved form of his animagus form to defeat Voldemort, Harry becomes a human and phoenix hybrid. In fear of his powers Harry is betrayed by the Ministry and pushed through the Veil and lands into the One piece universe. A new life is now awaiting him with two dominant mates to protect and care for him. AcexHarryxMarco, other pairings, mpreg, cross dressing
1. The Reborn of The Phoenix

**Hello everyone and thank you for having clicked on this story! As you already know it is a crossover of Harry Potter and One piece with as main characters as well as pairing of this story: Ace, Harry, and Marco.**

**This is actually a challenge fic from dear Lady Ryou, which I have accepted since I'm a bit masochistic. Lol Just kidding.**

**Anyway this is my first time doing a crossover. But thankfully Lady Ryou is kindly betaing it, so don't worry if I make something crappy I will virtually be whacked upside the head for it. Though your own insight would be most appreciated as well. :)**

**Disclaimer****: Though I would dearly love to, I own neither Harry Potter nor One Piece as this privilege goes to their respective author and mangaka. I do not make money out of them either. **

**Warning****: Mpreg, yaoi, cross dresser Harry, and One piece randomness, Dom Ace and Marco, Sub Harry**

**Enjoy!**

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A flash of white light, another one of made of dark smoke, a powerful gust of wind, two figures fighting against one another in the great hall of Hogwarts. Their battle was fierce but it was clear who was going to be winner. One of the battling men let out of a frustrated roar, full of hatred as he threw another deadly spell at his opponent who dodged it with ease. Everyone around them has stopped their fights against one another to watch this amazing battle, a battle that would decide the fate of the wizarding world.

Here in front of them were fighting two of the most powerful wizards of all time. Those two had met each other a few times in the past, one always managing to escape the other. They were destined to fight to the death against one another. Voldemort and Harry Potter had always been meant to face each other, one of them fighting to stop the other from taking over the world while the latter was fighting to wipe off the only menace that stood between him and his goal.

Finally after two years, two long years ever since he had been told that he was meant to one day face the dark wizard, Harry was finally meeting his destiny. After the horrible episode in the battle at the Department of Mysteries, where the young man had seen his godfather Sirius go through the Veil after having been killed by Bellatrix, Harry had dedicated all his time to find ways to become stronger. He wanted to get prepared for the day he would have to face Voldemort.

In sixth year, whenever he wasn't studying, doing homework and doing a task for Dumbledore, the green eyed youth would go to the library, combing through every single book available to him. When nothing else could be learnt from the books in the library, Harry snuck into the restricted section and looked for other spells, other potions, anything that could help him in the final battle against the dark wizard. He soon stumbled upon a book that taught how to find your animagus form, and so he began his arduous training to become an animagus, not telling anyone not even his friends about it.

In a few months time he had discovered what was his animagus form. And what a discovery that was! If he hadn't had read every single book on magical creatures, the dark haired young man might have not known what kind of creature he was. But since he had, Harry immediately recognized the bird he had turned into as a wind phoenix. Wind phoenixes controlled wind currents and had healing properties in their tears. They were coloured teal and were about half the size of a regular phoenix.

After having discovered this, Harry realized that he could now converse with Fawkes, whom he discovered was a female. The phoenix appeared to consider him as her offspring and acted very protective toward him. This fact had been making Dumbledore look at the both of them curiously every time Harry would be in his office, as the fire phoenix would immediately go perch on the head of the young man's chair, nipping at the youth's hair and fluffing it as she would do with a chick.

But the ability to now talk with Fawkes wasn't the only thing that Harry's animagus had given him. He had now a definite affinity with the air element though he already had it quite a lot, as he had always been more at ease when in the air on his broom than on the ground. He could also use all the powers of a wind phoenix when in his animagus form.

Unfortunately, just a few days before the end of the school year, a surprise attack from a group of Death Eaters happened and Dumbledore was killed by no one else but his "faithful" spy Severus Snape. The death of his mentor and someone he had come to consider as a grandfather figure hit the green eyed young man very hard and Harry began to study twice as hard to vanquish Voldemort.

After that, when he was back for a month at the Dursleys, he spent all the time he could inside his bedroom, reading very old magic books that he had managed to get from Grimmauld place through Kreacher, as he was his new master with whom he had managed to find a common ground on which they got along.

Once at the Burrow it had become more difficult for Harry to study and do research as he was busy with helping people with Bill and Fleur's wedding but also the fact that Hermione and Ron were almost constantly with him and he didn't want to involve them. As for Ginny, she had become even more forward in her seducing attempts, which had rather annoyed the youth as he had not interest in her and actually was more attracted to men.

The time to go back to Hogwarts for his seventh year arrived, and Harry immersed himself once again in his study and training. Though by now he had read pretty much everything that could be of any use to him, the ebony haired young man didn't feel like sitting and waiting patiently for Voldemort to come and find him. He preferred to revise everything and train himself until the dark wizard decided to face him.

Then a couple of months later, just a few weeks before the Christmas break, Voldemort finally decided to attack. And now here they were, facing each other and fighting until one of them was dead. Harry had planned everything, thinking up ways he could trap and maybe kill the dark wizard, imagining diverse scenarios in his head.

Having read about how there was another level above the animagus form, and this form was the hybrigus form. This form was basically a fusion of your human form with your animagus form and it was said to be a very powerful form as you could use your animagus powers while still being able to fight as a human as well. You only had to pay a certain price through your wizard magical core.

It was the ultimate animagus form. Harry trained hard to attain this form but it wasn't before he was on the battlefield that he finally managed to do it, his strong will to protect everyone making it possible for him to change into it. Thanks to this form, he was able to fight on par with Voldemort.

Right now, he was beginning to get the upper hand and he could see the dark wizard's face twist in rage and frustration, as he knew that he was being overpowered. After a moment, in a desperate attempt to finish this quickly and kill the young man, Voldemort threw his most powerful curse at the hybrigus. Unfortunately for him, with a gust of magical wind, Harry threw the dark wizard's own spell against him and blasted him into a million pieces.

However, before the ebony-haired young man could fully comprehend what was happening, he felt himself being happed up as if he was apparating. The next thing he knew he was landing on a hard surface that felt like a tilled floor. Coming to and barely standing up, his legs feeling wobbly, the young hero suddenly realized in shock that he was in the Department of Mysteries, standing right in front of the Veil in which Sirius had disappeared in.

"W-what happened, why am I here?" Harry murmured to himself, looking at the Veil and room he was in, in both confusion and shock.

'I wonder if everyone at Hogwarts is all right' the young man thought.

He then suddenly heard the knob from the door across from him creaking. Turning to see who it was, the green eyed young man gasped in shock as he saw Dumbledore, who had died at the hand of Snape a couple months ago, standing here in front of him alive and breathing. Too shocked to say anything Harry took a step back, which brought him closer to the Veil.

"Well hello my dear boy. Shocked to see me among the living?" the old wizard asked, his usually joyful face twisted into an evilly sadistic expression, his usually twinkling eyes now cold and calculating.

"B-but…how…why?" Harry stuttered confusedly, not wanting to believe what he was seeing right now in front of him, feeling like he had just fell into a horrible nightmare.

"Let me explain. Ever since you were born, you have been deceived and manipulated." Dumbledore told him with an evil smirk on his face, as he began to slowly stalk toward the silently shocked ebony haired young man, "Leaving you at the Dursleys, putting you into dangerous adventures at Hogwarts throughout the years, and faking my death. All of this was done on purpose to mould you into a weapon to be used and then later tossed away. All your life, you have never been anything but a tool. A tool manipulated by my skilful hands."

"No. I can't believe it. You wouldn't do that. The Dumbledore I know would never do that. He is on the side of Light." Harry said in unbelief.

"Oh but it is true my dear boy." the former Headmaster said in a twisted smile, sneering at the young man's hurt and lost expression, "You have been very useful but now you've become too powerful. You have even become some dark foul creature, look and see for yourself"

The old man then conjured a mirror for the shocked young man to peer inside and look at his reflection.

What Harry saw in the mirror was different from what he was used to see. Standing at 5'4 was a small petite boy with waist length hair with full red lips, large emerald green jewel like almond shaped eyes and wide hips. Taking all these changes in, Harry realized the most startling changes were a pair of 6 feet long, teal blue-green feathered bird like wings, which sprouted from his back, and feathers that seemed to be braided into his hair as well.

Raising a hand up Harry combed his hand through his hair just to discover while letting out a soft surprised gasp, the new changes that had come to his person. He was still in his hybrigus form. As he searched for his wizard magical core to change himself back into a human, the young man then realised that he couldn't find it. He didn't have a wizard magical core anymore.

All he could feel now was the magical core of his phoenix form. How had that happen? How was it possible? Why had his wizard's powers disappeared? All those question were swarming into the young man's head and making him slightly dizzy. Did that mean that he was not human anymore? Was it possible that he had underestimated the price that came with mastering this form?

Whatever was the reason, Harry couldn't care less as he was more agitated about Dumbledore and all the manipulations he had just confessed to have done on him. How could he have done this to him? During all this time he had worked so hard to study and train himself, preparing himself physically and mentally as well to kill a man for the sake of humanity, just to discover that after the job was done, the wizarding world was going to throw him away like some useless trash. What has he been fighting all this time for then?

"Well my boy it's time to say goodbye I can't have a dangerous creature such as yourself alive," Dumbledore said in a cold unemotional voice, pulling the young man out of his thoughts and shooting a stunner off at him that knocked him off his feet and into the Veil.

As soon as his body made contact with the Veil, a flash of light appeared and enveloped Harry, hearing a loud rumble before losing consciousness because of Dumbledore's spell.

With satisfaction, the old Headmaster watched as the ebony-haired young man disappeared through the Veil, a twisted smile on his face. Then he heard a loud shrill coming from behind him, and when he turned around to see what it was, he barely had enough time to register what was happening as Fawkes appeared from out of nowhere and clawed at his face in a furious shrill.

"Aaargh bloody bird!" Dumbledore yelled in pain, swishing his wand blindly in an attempt to keep the fire phoenix away from him.

In one last tempestuous shrill Fawkes threw a ball of flames at the old man, setting the latter on fire before disappearing in a flurry of flames, letting Dumbledore being consumed by her magical fire as a revenge for having sent the one she considered one of her offspring through that Veil.

When Harry woke up, the green eyed young man found himself lying in a bed that he knew was not his. When he looked around at his surroundings, the young man saw that he was in a room that looked to be out of some of the samurai movies he had watched, with the tatamis and the shoji walls and the minimal furniture inside it. He could hear birds singing outside and it felt like the weather was nice outside. Trying to remember how he had gotten here, Harry's eyes suddenly widened as his memories came flooding back in at full speed. His fight against Voldemort, his hybrigus form and the repercussions on it, his new body, Dumbledore, him going through the Veil… Everything came back to him.

As he remembered everything, the ebony-haired young man sat up abruptly, immediately lying back down with a moan of pain as his head spun and made him lightheaded. At that moment, one of the shoji doors slid open to reveal a woman of average height with light brown hair in her early thirties. She had a slightly rounded face and sharp brown eyes in which you could feel warmth and concern in the depths of them as she looked at Harry.

"You shouldn't move too much," she told him in a voice that sounded authoritative but was also full of concern, "You have a really nasty bruise on the back of your head. I'm actually surprised it is not fractured. You also have a few cuts on your body as well as other light injuries."

Putting his hand on the back of his hand, Harry winced at the sharp pain that he felt going through his skull, seeing that the mysterious woman was right, he then raised his arms to see that some parts were all bandaged or had band aids. The green eyed young youth began to slowly turn his head toward the woman who entered the room with a platter with food on it as well as a big glass of water.

"Thank you for having helped me and having treated my wounds. I'm very grateful." Harry said softly, his voice a bit raspy and his throat parched as if he hadn't drunk for days.

"Don't strain yourself too much, you have been asleep for three days straight." the mysterious woman said, gently propping the young man slightly up and giving him the glass of water, which the latter accepted gladly as he took large gulp of the deliciously fresh liquid that soothed his aching throat, "Your body is very weak right now. You need all the rest you can get."

"But I do appreciate the words of thanks. Thank you. You are really polite. That's a quality that seems to be fading more and more throughout the generations." The light brown haired woman said with a smile, tucking one stray lock of hair behind the young man's ear, "What's your name?"

"Harry Potter." The ebony-haired youth answered smiling back at her timidly, "May I ask what's yours?"

"Inari Okami." She told him, before adding, "Nice to meet you Harry Potter. You can call me just Inari."

"Only if you call me Harry." Harry replied with a slight smile.

Inari grinned at this and extended her hand and shook the young hybrid's bandaged one.

"Deal." She told him joyfully.

"I have a question I would like to ask you though." The former human man said as Inari helped him lie back on the bed.

"Sure, what is it?" the brown haired woman said looking down at him curious.

"Where am I exactly?" he asked with a frown.

"You are on Hanami Island. It's a Spring Island on Grand Line. I found you on the beach, you were lying unconscious on the sand covered with cuts and bruises so I decided to take you to my house and to treat your wounds." Inari explained, though from the lost look on the young man's face she had just confused him even more.

"Hum what's Grand Line?" Harry asked feeling completely lost, not remembering in any of his geography classes of a country, sea, ocean or archipelago called Grand Line.

The light brown haired woman then began to explain to the young man everything about the Grand Line, Red Line, and the four blue seas (East Blue, West Blue, South Blue and North Blue). As the woman went along in her explanation, Harry realized that he was in a whole other world. That fact both fascinated and scared him. Did that mean that he would never see his friends again? But at the same time did he really want to see them again after the act of treason toward him from Dumbledore? Maybe they would treat him the same way if he came back. They would treat him like some tool that had done its time and now needed to be getting rid of. On reflection, being in a whole other world was actually a golden chance to start anew. Nobody knew him here. He could do whatever he wanted without people watching his every move. No mob of fans or hungry and vicious news reporters to ruin his life.

"You are not from this world are you?" Inari asked rhetorically, pulling Harry out his thoughts.

"How do you know?" the young man asked.

"Intuition." The woman replied with a wink before adding in a more serious tone, "At first I thought you might have been from Skypea, the sky Islands, since you have wings. But at seeing your expression about what I just told you, you have not even the slightest knowledge of this world. Though it is a rather crazy hypothesis, you being from another world is the only plausible explanation I could think of."

"Oh." Was the only thing that Harry managed to say as he looked at the light brown haired woman who looked rather smug of having found out the fact that he wasn't from here.

"But what happened to you exactly? How did you arrive in this world?" Inari asked looking at the young man in curiosity, a frown on her face.

At these questions, Harry's face became sombre and he stared at the ceiling in front of him with a pained look on his face.

"I'd rather not talk about it if that's okay." said Harry with his green eyes filled with sadness.

"No problem." The light brown haired woman said with an understanding expression, feeling like this was not a happy story and it would do more damage by being told than anything.

A silence settled between the two where each of them was deep into their thoughts. Then after a moment, Harry turned his head once again toward Inari, a determined and extremely curious light in his eyes.

"Could you tell me more about this world please?" he asked.

With a smile on her face the woman nodded, looking happy about the look on the young man's face.

"All right but you will have to eat while I talk." She replied mock authoritatively as she helped the young man sit up so that she could put the tray full of different food on his laps, "Skinny as you are you need all the nutrients that you can get."

And so, as Harry was eating dutifully his food under the watchful eye of Inari, the latter told him all about how this world was right now into the golden age of piracy and how right now every pirate was trying to get their hands on the famous treasure of the late pirate king Gold D Roger, the One Piece. She told him all about the politic of this country the different, species and animals you could find, telling him tales of great explorers, marines, and pirates.

As he listened to the woman talking, the young man couldn't help but imagine all the places she was describing, feeling a desire to travel and see all those places with his own eyes. Though the thought of being stuck in a whole new world had scared him a bit, Harry was beginning to be more and more thrilled about the new place he was in. His new life was surely promising to be exciting and full of surprises. Just like a phoenix, which he had partly become, he had been reborn in a way and had now the opportunity to live a whole new life, and the young hybrid couldn't wait to live it.

**_*At the same moment somewhere in the kingdom of Alabasta…*_**

"What? You are leaving already?" Luffy exclaimed with a disappointed pout, him and the rest of the Mugiwara crew looking at Ace as he jumped over the rail of the Going Merry and landed in his fire induced speedboat.

"Yeah." The dark brown haired young man said, while pulling the anchor that kept his boat in place out of the water.

"You can chill out a little longer! I haven't seen you in so long." The straw-hat wearing pirate protested.

"I told you, I only came to do that." The freckled pirate replied, referring to the Vivre card he had just given to Luffy as he kept on securing the anchor on his boat and preparing to leave.

Indeed, Ace was on a mission. He was chasing after one of his former crewmembers, a subordinate who had assassinated another crewmate. This scum called himself Blackbeard, though his real name was Marshall D Teach, and it was Ace's duty as second commander of Whitebeard's float to punish him for his crime.

He had just made this detour to quickly see his little brother and give him a Vivre Card so that they could meet again someday. Now he had to go back on the road and search for Blackbeard to administer justice for the murder of one of his crewmembers.

"See you at the top!" Ace told Luffy with a winning grin before leaving.

"See you later!" he heard his little brother say, while he was leaving on his speedboat.

Unfortunately for him, a float of ships from the Baroque Works decided to try and capture him by putting themselves in his way. Sighing in slight annoyance at those fools who thought they could defeat him, Ace leapt and spun in the air over the ships until he was on the other side, landing safely on his speed boat before sending a Fire Fist that destroyed all of the ships at once. Once he had done this, the freckled pirate sped away once again, in the direction one of his sources had said that Blackbeard had last been seen.

As he was speeding away on the sea to the next Island to try and see if Blackbeard might still be on it, the dark brown haired young man thought about his crew that was waiting for him as well as Whitebeard, oyaji. But also he thought about his friend Marco.

They had all had tried to discourage and stop him from going after Teach. But even if he respected Whitebeard a lot, if there was one person who could discourage him from going after Teach it was Marco.

His crewmate and best friend had always been the only one capable of calming him and making him change his mind, but not this time. Whatever Marco had said, the blond pirate hadn't managed to make him drop the idea of going after Blackbeard. Ace had a duty as commander and he was dead set on making sure to avenge the murder of one of his comrades.

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_**TBC**_

**Let me know what you have thought of this little prologue.**

**Next chapter will be the meeting between Harry and Ace so look forward to it. ;-)**

**See you next chapter!**


	2. The New Life

**Hello everyone! I want to deeply apologize for the long time you had to wait for this chapter. A lot of things have happened to me in the recent weeks and so I had little to no time to write fictions or even for myself. :(**

**You can't believe how much I missed writing fics. But now hopefully, my life will be less crazy than it was lately and I will be able to update at a faster pace.**

**Anyway, thank you very very very much for the incredible positive response this fic has gotten! I can't believe how many people are interested by this story and I hope that there will be even more in the future. :D**

**Now I will answer some of the questions you had so that everyone is informed as well. ^^**

**But first, I would like to remind everyone, as it wasn't apparently very clear, that this is a slash fiction with cross-dressing in it. As such, there will be homosexual romance with lots and lots of kisses and male dressing like girls, and other things in this fic. **

**If it bothers you I encourage you greatly to turn back right now. Anyway, someone asked me if the OC Inari Okami was a godly character and the answer is no. Though I know that Inari is the name of the kitsune god in the Japanese culture, I have just re-used her from a Naruto fanfiction where I had created her. She is a bit like my fetish character that I like to use sometimes.**

**As for the question about Harry's wings, his wings are 6 feet long and they are shaped like angels' ones. The reference to Skypea is merely because for me it would be the normal assumption that people from the One Piece universe would have when they see him as this is the only kind of people who have wings on their backs. As such, he can fly with them.**

**Also, though I will sometimes use some of the canon's scenes, arcs, and might follow a bit of the original story, I will mostly go where my imagination takes so you never know where exactly I will go. This is the beauty of my mind…it's full of surprises. =P**

**And finally, though he is now a hybrid of his human and phoenix form, he can still transform into a phoenix completely.**

**I hope I answered to all your questions and concerns. Don't hesitate to ask if there is anything that isn't clear for you or anything. :)**

**All right enough chit chat, let's get this chapter running!**

**Enjoy! ;-)**

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"Rise and shine! We have a big day that awaits us today." The cheery voice of Inari though the shoji door, waking up the young man who buried further into his bed for a moment, hugging his pillow as he fought against getting up for a moment before giving up the battle with a groan.

It had now been a month since Harry had landed in this world and had now completely recovered from his injuries. Soon after he had been completely healed, he had begun helping Inari with her job. She was actually the town's doctor and was really busy as everyone asked for her help.

To show his gratitude, the young hybrid had decided to help her treating her patients and in return she had told him everything about medicine. She taught him everything she knew about wounds and diseases and how to treat and cure them. Another new thing was that Harry had discovered that he could shed tears and use them to heal people's severe wounds as any phoenix could do, which had greatly amazed and impressed Inari.

"Oh you didn't need to do that you know. I could have easily done it myself." Inari protested as she walked into the kitchen to see Harry already busying himself in the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

"Don't worry it doesn't bother me to do it at all. I used to do it all the time at home." The human phoenix hybrid replied, turning his head toward the female doctor with a small soft smile, "This is the least I can do after what you have done for me. Plus I know that you don't really like cooking. If I weren't there you probably would just pig yourself on snacks until it is late enough to have lunch."

"Heheheh… Yeah you're probably right." The light brown haired woman said, grinning sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head, "In that case I will at least make the tea."

"I'm not sure I can survive another cup of your special super black tea." he said with a comical grimace, receiving in response a pout from Inari who then proceeded to poke her tongue at him in a childish manner.

"Hey this is what helps us stay up all day! Just take care of the meal gaki while I go get dressed." She grumbled, stomping away from the chuckling hybrid childishly.

After having spent one month in this new strange world, Harry had become accustomed to the life here, growing to like the people that he had met and come to know well. Though the beginnings had been slightly rocky with the village's inhabitants as they had been wondering whom this young man with big wings and black hair with feathers braided into them was.

But after getting to know him and see what kind of person he was, everyone had accepted him and the young hybrid had become a faithful customer of the town's dangos shop, those sweets having become one of his favourite. He loved to go sit on one of the benches with a plate of dangos and a cup of tea, and just watch the cherry, plum and peach trees' blossoms fall.

The young man himself had had a hard time accepting his own appearance at first. After all, it wasn't everyday you discovered that you were now half human and half phoenix. As he was preparing breakfast, he recalled the time when he had realized that he could actually fly and that his wide wings were very powerful and could create rather powerful guts of wind.

At this time he also realized that due to his wind affinity, he could manipulate the weather with a bit of preparation from the elements. He could create storms by accumulating the clouds and putting them together to form one very big cloud and send huge waves from the sea by wind currents. He also needed to fly once a day at least to feel good or else he would feel depressed and would fall ill if he hadn't flown for a week.

Flying was for him like breathing, he couldn't live without it. When he had still been a human, flying in the air with his broom had been an immense pleasure. But nothing could compare to the feeling he had now that he was a phoenix hybrid when he flew with his own wings. It was just incredible.

It was one day, as he was flying around in the sky, that he discovered the true extent of his powers. As he was gliding through the clouds, he had suddenly felt the desire to try something crazy, so he do flips and spin in every direction. In the middle of a spun, the young hybrid suddenly realized that the sky had become rather dark and that the sea was a bit agitated.

After a few experiments, he realized that he was the cause of the phenomenon and concluded that it was of his powers.

Another thing Harry had realized was that he had become much more aware of the world around him, as he could feel even the slightest breeze as well as the changes in the air.

'Being half wind phoenix must have something to do with it.' The young man thought while softly passing his hand through his hair and the feathers that were braided there, still having a hard time getting to the idea of it sometimes.

After awhile he had finally come to terms with his new and more feminine appearance. Thanks to Inari, he had embraced this part of him completely, as the female doctor had insisted on dressing him in female summer kimonos with of course the back out for his wings.

The young woman, who he had come to think as a friend, had a blast of taking him shopping and buying him a lot of clothes such as summer and winter kimonos. She had even bought him a few pieces of jelwerly such as a bracelet charm, which Harry had just fallen in love with. On his lucky charm bracelet he already had a Buddha, a hibiscus flower and a fan trinket on it.

He actually had lots of fun with his newfound feminine side as he enjoyed wearing feminine kimonos and always wore the bracelets that Inari had bought him.

Now he was working as a medical help for Inari who had insisted on giving him a wage for his work. He was helping her treat the patients and make the medicines to help them get better. Thanks to her, he had not only gotten a real knowledge in medicine and healing but he was also slowly getting a significant amount of money that he was putting away so that one day he could travel and see the rest of this world that seemed so fascinating.

He had read lots of books whether they were historic books, travel and adventure diaries from great discoverers or just legends and ones of myths. Everything that he found and learned about this world and the people living in it had fascinated him particularly pirates.

Though they were mostly depicted as bad guys, there were a few writings that talked about them as heroes. Some books depicted them as revolutionaries who would one day turn this mostly rotten Government of this world around. He had been rather shocked when he had learned that a selected few were beings called the Tenryuubitos who were considered even higher than royalty. Those people had every right and were just untouchable. If they wanted something, they would get it.

This was actually one of the reasons he found the pirates as well as the revolutionary army so interesting. But pirates also had this aura of mystery and adventure to them that just called the young hybrid. He thrived to be like them, free and able to sail on the seas on search of adventures.

This was why he would one day get a boat and sail around and discover this world for himself, seeing the things he had read about with his own eyes.

"Hey stop daydreaming we have a long day ahead of us that we need to start!" Inari told him, bursting his bubble and pulling him out of his thoughts.

Indeed, today was the day that Inari and Harry had to go to the neighbouring village to go get the new stock of medicinal plants that were only grown there. Those plants, when infused, were the perfect remedy for strong headaches and fevers which Inari would always buy them from this old cultivator in the other town, who had only a small patch of land to grow them. He was the best at growing those plants and making sure that they would mature nicely. She would always go during this period of the year to the neighbouring town solely to go buy from the old man everything he had as soon as it was time to pick them up. So this was why Harry and the female doctor left as soon as they were done with breakfast, so that they were sure to arrive early to the old cultivator's place and that no one had the chance to get the medicinal plants before them.

After returning to the village with their arms full of said plants, they put them into the huge baskets that they had taken with them. Then, after having a quick lunch, the two of them began their daily visits to some of the elderly and very ill patients. They would also stop to other houses if someone asked them to come check a friends or a family member that wasn't feeling well. When the daily visits were done, they would go back to Inari's house and stay there for the rest of the afternoon and evening unless someone came for a problem.

It was a routine that never changed and that Harry was enjoying a lot as he liked helping and treating people.

One day, as he and Inari were doing their daily home visits, someone suddenly ran up to them, looking alarmed and distressed. It was the bartender of the nearby restaurant. When he arrived to where the two stood, the man was huffing and puffing as he tried to regain his breathing after having ran as fast as he could. The Inar and Harry waited patiently for the man to calm himself down, curious about what could be making him so agitated.

"A man… A man just collapsed at the restaurant while eating!" the bartender exclaimed in alarme as soon as he had enough breathe, making both Inari and Harry's eyes go wide, "I-I think he is dead."

"Take us there." Inari told him, a frown of concern appearing on her face and becoming extremely serious.

Nodding, the bartender quickly took off back to the restaurant, the other two not far behind as they ran.

From afar, you could see a crowd of people peeking through the restaurant's entrance door at the scene. Most of the women gasping and whispering to each other about the horrific sight while the men debated about what the cause could be.

"Move." The female doctor ordered sternly while shoving to side the gossiping crowd to enter the place, with following behind.

She suddenly stopped and gasped at the sight in front of her. Curious about what could have made his friend react like that, Harry walked up next to her and looked in the same direction as her. What he saw made him gasp as well in shock. There in front of them was a man with his face in his plate, hand still raised and holding the fork he had been using to eat. It was like death had been so sudden that he had just dropped dead right where he was. According to the way he was dressed, the man was no doubt a stranger.

From the plate that had still a lot of food left, you could see wavy black hair covering the face of the collapsed man. His upper body was bare had a big tattoo on his back that was partly hidden from the cowboy hat hanging from his neck. He seemed to also have a tattoo on his left arm, which was hidden from the two's sight and was also wearing black cargo shorts with a orange belt and a blue pouch strapped to his thigh. You could a holster with a gun hanging from his left side as well.

In all appearance, the man looked like he must have been some sort of seaman. Whether it was as a pirate or maybe just a sea merchant was not clear yet.

Inari began to slowly approach the dead man, walking around and looking at all the little details to try and see if she could find the reason why he was like that. After a few seconds of turning around the corpse and looking at his position and the food in which his face was buried in, the light brown haired woman looked at the chef and manager of the restaurant with a stern gaze.

"What did you give this man to eat?" she asked.

"Nothing I swear! Well, nothing deadly at least." The chef exclaimed raising his hands defensively, "We were actually talking calmly and he was about to ask about something when he just collapsed in his food!"

"I see." The doctor said pensively before turning to Harry, who still hadn't moved as he looked at the corpse.

Though it wasn't the first time he was seeing a corpse, as he had seen hundreds of them during his final with Voldemort, it still was a rather weird and slightly frightening thing to experience. The stillness and stiffness of a body, which just stopped living, was always a rather hard thing to live for him especially since it now reminded him of this fateful night where his whole life changed.

"Harry." The gentle voice of Inari pulled him out of his morbid thoughts, "Can you come here? I need you to help me move the body so that I can do an autopsy to see the exact cause of the death."

Agreeing, the young hybrid then began to walk toward the woman before he stopped as a light breeze hit him in the face and brought he a scent coming from the dead man to him. When this scent hit his nose, eyes went wide and his nostrils flared as if to take more of that scent in. His heart began beating faster and his mind became addled with a sensation he had slightly a hard time recognizing, feeling a pull toward this man. Then suddenly it was like his animal instinct from his phoenix awakened full force. He could almost hear a slight whisper at his head, as one single thought began to occupy his mind.

That man right in front of him that was collapsed was his mate.

He had read about the fact that each phoenix had a significant other, a mate, that was meant for them and that they could find and recognize them through scent. But he had never thought that him being now part phoenix would make him have a destined mate as well. But then again, the proof was right in front of him right now. The only problem was that the man was dead.

This realization suddenly hit the young man and the smile that had just appeared quickly disappeared as his face took on a grief stricken expression. But Harry quickly shook his head vigorously to shake those sad thoughts out of his mind. He had a job to do.

Grieving about the loss of a mate he hadn't even time to get to know would have to wait when he was back home. He then proceeded to continue going to Inari's side. Though she had noticed the sudden emotional turmoil the young hybrid had been in, she preferred to say nothing about it and pretend nothing had happened as she knew that right now he was working on simply willpower.

"All right. So we are going to do it like this. I will push him into a sitting position before taking him and holding him head and shoulders while you will take his legs. Okay?" the female doctor said into full professional mode, receiving a nod from Harry.

But as they were going do proceed on moving him, the man that they thought was dead suddenly rose from the stool he was sitting on. He looked around blearily with beady eyes and food all over his face, before letting out a groan and taking a bite of his meal.

"Oh crap I fell asleep again." The man muttered through a full mouth of food.

At hearing this, the mouth of everyone present just dropped in shock and their eyes went wide in complete disbelief. For a moment, there was an eerie silence because everyone was too shocked to say anything. Then there was an uproar as everyone said the same thing that went through their mind.

"WHAAT?!" they all exclaimed at the same time.

"Huh?" the stranger said as he turned around and looked at all the bewildered faces, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"We should be the ones asking this!" everyone replied angrily, confusing the 'supposably dead' man even more.

As for Harry, relief flooded the young hybrid as he looked at the man that was to be his mate who was wiping the food off of his face.

Seeing that the man was in fact alive made him really happy. Though he felt a bit weird at the idea that he had just found his mate, he was actually feeling like a missing piece of him had finally been found and put back into place.

As the face of the man came into view, after finally finishing cleaning his face off with his napkin, the tanned and sharp face of the man was revealed. He had freckles on his cheekbones and dark eyes that matched his hair.

Harry's eyes then travelled down to the big red pearl necklace resting around his neck, trailing down lower to the well-defined muscles of his arms and abdomen. His taut tanned skin and his six packs looking like a delicious chocolate tablet.

While the young hybrid was literally mesmerized and drooling at the sight of the other man, you could see Inari fuming next to him, looking like she wanted to murder the man. With this idea in mind, she began to walk up to the man who looked up at her with a curious look.

"Yes? May I...Aaarrhgg!" he began to say but was interrupted when the female doctor punched as hard as she could upside the head, before locking her arm around his neck and head, beginning to strangle him.

"You freaking moron! We nearly had a freaking heart attack because of you!" she began to yell at him while the latter struggled to try and pry her off of him, "You should pay with your life to apologize for the scare you gave us!"

"Can't…breathe…help…" the poor man managed to rasp out from the deadly grip of the light brown haired woman before a bunch of people began to try to calm down Inari and save the poor guy from suffocating.

"Please calm down Inari-san, killing him will bring nothing good." Someone from the restaurant said trying to reason the mad doctor who was still trying to strangle the man, pulling on her arm to make her let go of him.

"Maybe but it will make me happy." She growled out, not wanting to hear any of it.

After much pleas and reasoning, the angry woman finally accepted to let go of the stranger whom she was still glaring daggers at. Once he had regained his breathe, the man turned to Inari and the rest of restaurant and bowed deeply in front of them.

"I apologize for earlier. I didn't mean to scare you like that. But ever since I was a kid I've had a small case of narcolepsy, and so I sometimes fall asleep at inappropriate moments." The man excused himself, still bowed down as he continued talking, "I realize I haven't introduced myself to you either. My name is Portgas D Ace. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Inari Okami, the town's doctor." The woman said presenting herself before she added a little reluctantly, while pouting a little, "I'm sorry for having tried to strangle you earlier, and I would like to invite you to come share dinner with me and Harry at my house tonight as an apology."

"Are you sure I won't be a hindrance? I wouldn't want to impose on you in your house." Ace said politely.

"Don't worry about it. It would be nice to have a guest at our table. Right Harry?" she replied, turning to the young hybrid for confirmation.

But the latter was still standing frozen as he looked like hypnotized at the freckled man. Without saying a word, he slowly walked up to Ace and sniffed him once more, before a wide smile broke onto his face as he began to rub his face against the bare broad chest of the latter, purring happily.

"Mate." He mumbled as he began hugging the taller man, while wounding his arms around Ace's neck and pressing his body against his.

Everyone was silent as they looked in slight surprise at the odd behaviour of the usually rather reserved young man, Ace stiffened at the contact. Why was this girl hugging him and purring like this? And did she just say 'mate'? Very confused, the freckled pirate turned to Inari with a questioning gaze.

"Why is this girl acting like this?" he asked, not knowing what to do with the person that was hanging on him tightly.

"Well, first of all 'she' is a boy." The light brown haired woman said amusedly, Ace's eyes widening slightly at this news, "And second, I actually have no idea why he is acting like this. This is the first time he's behaving like this with anyone. You must have something special."

***** Line Breaker *****

Later that same day, at Inari's house, Ace was sitting at the table in the living room, waiting patiently but also a bit nervously after having set up the table. Inari and Harry arrived with the food and drinks in their arms.

Though the constant longing and intense gazes from Harry had made him feel slightly uncomfortable, he hadn't been able to refuse Inari's dinner invitation. Though he didn't want to admit nor to acknowledge it yet, the devil fruit user was irresistibly attracted to the feminine looking young hybrid.

"Here you go, we made a big roast with egg and vegetable fried rice. Well actually Harry is the one who cooked." The female doctor said as she threw a teasing and amused glance at the young hybrid, who flushed under the comment since it made the other man look at him.

"Thank you it smells delicious." Ace said gently with a tentative smile, earning a shy but happy smile from the other whose face brightened at hearing this.

The three of them began to eat in silence, Harry glancing from time to time at Ace as if he was silently watching for the latter's reaction while eating the food he had prepared. As for the second commander of Whitebeard's float, he felt the furtive glances that the other kept throwing at him but pretended not to notice them and kept eating. He could also feel the pull toward the young hybrid but was slightly perturbed by them.

At first when he had seen Harry he had thought he was a girl. But then even after he had learned, that he was a man that didn't lessen the desire he felt for him. It was an attraction beyond physical. It was something he had a hard time explaining or even understanding it. He didn't even know the young hybrid but he couldn't help but feel almost overwhelmed by that feeling.

Here there was this young man who had a very feminine figure with long black hair and big green adorable eyes. With the feminine kimono he wore, but most of all the magnificent teal wings, and the feathers of the same colour that were braided into his hair, the young hybrid had a really exotic and charming air to him.

"This was very good. You are a really good cook." Ace said, smiling gently at Harry whose face brightened at this comment, a smile breaking his face in two.

"Thank you." The young man said, a small pink hue on his cheeks, looking happy that his meal had pleased the other.

It was very new for the both of them. They didn't understand yet the full extent of what they felt exactly. For Harry, it was his instincts that were leading him and he trusted them fully. It didn't matter that he didn't know him yet. He just wanted to spend time with him and fully bond with him so that they could be together.

As for Ace, he was rather perturbed by this link that seemed to be there between him and the young man and that was pulling him to him.

Though he felt deep inside his instincts telling him to just go with the flow, he had a hard time just letting go and accepting this pull. However, he had also decided that he would stay for a while and observe this attraction that he obviously felt for the other.

He wanted to get to know him and just spend some time with him. He would wait and see how this would enrol; giving a chance to this strange attraction that he was feeling.

_TBC_

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_**I hope you liked this chapter and I wanted to thank you for the great response that this fiction is getting and I hope to see more of you in the future. ^^**_

_**Cheers!**_


	3. One The Road To Love And Adventure

**Hello everyone! How have you been? As you can see I am finally updating (Yay!).**

**As you know this story has a m-preg mention and I wanted to just reassure as someone asked me this question: Harry is not going to lay eggs. That would be just weird… I mean he is still half human so I am going to use this fact to my advantage. But anyway it's not something we need to worry about until later as there is some time before the notion of Harry being pregnant emerges.**

**As for Harry's wings, they are located on his back if anyone was wondering.**

**And finally, the story is taking place after Ace's meeting in Alabasta with Luffy.**

**Anyway, don't worry Marco will appear soon.**

**Moreover, I promise not to take as long as I took for the last two chapters. I have actually completed a story I was writing on the Naruto universe with Kakashi and Naruto as a couple. Plus, my life has settled down a bit so now I can safely say that you won't have to wait as much as before. :-)**

**Reminder: I do not own One Piece or Harry Potter, nor do I make money out of this fic. This is a fantasy yaoi fanfic. If you don't like this type then I'm wondering what you are still doing here.**

**Thank you to Lady Ryou for betaing this story and being so patient for the new chapters to come. **

**Now enjoy! ;-)**

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Ace had now been staying on the Hanami Island for almost a week. Everyday he would hang out with Harry. Spending some time with the young hybrid and doing things like going to eat at the restaurant or just having a walk down on the beach or in the forest. During those times they would talk about this and that. Ace talking a lot about his little brother Luffy, and his captain Whitebeard that he considered to be like his father, while Harry talked about the world he was from. Talking about Hogwarts and the wizarding world was something that never stopped fascinating the older man, who drank every word the young man was saying.

They discovered that they agreed on a lot of things and had a lot in common. The freckled pirated enjoyed a lot these moments. He was becoming more and more fond of the feminine looking young man, which he had to admit that he was becoming extremely attracted to him.

Though he didn't like the idea of falling so quickly and easily for someone, the second division commander of Whitebeard's fleet couldn't deny that he was beginning to fall rather hard for the beautiful green eyed hybrid. One thing that had made him realize how much he was beginning to feel for the other was when he saw Harry fly for the first time.

It had been rather late in the evening and him and the young man had just come back earlier from an early dinner at Harry's favorite place. Ace had been about to go to his room to sleep when he saw something hide the moon's light for a second and glide in the starry sky. It had been so fast that the freckled pirate hadn't seen what it was. Intrigued, he went out into the garden and there he saw him. Wings spread wide and feathers glistening under the soft moonlight, the young hybrid was flying in the sky with an expression of utter calmness and pure bliss on his face. The feminine looking young man was diving and twirling around in the sky with such ease and grace that the other man was enthralled by the breathtaking air performance.

He had already seen once or twice his best friend Marco fly in his phoenix form as well but it couldn't compare to the way Harry was being one with the wind. Though his friend was a rather skillful and graceful flyer, he didn't seem to have the same affinity that the young hybrid seemed to have with the wind.

After seeing him fly like that, Ace's mind began to be plagued even more with thoughts of the beautiful green-eyed hybrid. Unfortunately he had spent already too much time on this island and needed to go back on the sea soon and continue his pursuit of Marshall D Teach. He didn't want to leave but he knew he had to. Maybe once he had caught and dealt with him he could come back here and see Harry again.

This was how one day, as he, Inari, and Harry were sitting in the living eating dinner, the freckled pirate announced his soon departure.

"Inari-san, thank you for your very kind hospitality and everything you have done for me," he said bowing to the female doctor. "But now it is time for me to leave, as I still have a mission to accomplish. I am actually looking for a man that calls himself Blackbeard. This man was a member of the ship I was in charge of and killed one of his crewmates. It is my duty as commander of the ship to catch this man and to punish him for his crime."

Inari and Harry stayed silent for a moment, the latter looking completely distressed by the news. The whole face of the hybrid cried surprise and sadness. Everything had been going so well. Why did he have to leave now? He knew that he was a pirate and that as a division commander of one of the most powerful pirate in the world he had duties. But the young hybrid didn't want to be parted from him, especially not so soon. They still hadn't even kissed!

"I see. Well that's a shame but I guess we can't really do anything about it." Inari said with a small sigh as she looked at the pirate with a small understanding smile. "I will ask people in the village to prepare provisions for your journey."

"That's very kind of you thank you." Ace said with a grateful bow.

A few hours later, Ace was putting the provisions bag on his speedboat and doing the final preparations for his journey when he suddenly heard a voice calling him.

"Ace!" The voice of Harry called as the feminine looking young man ran to him.

At some point during the week they spent together, they had started calling each other by their first name.

"What is it Harry?" The freckled pirate asked curiously, as he looked at the short out breath young hybrid, who eas trying to regain his breath.

"Take me with you." He replied bluntly once he had enough breath, looking at the taller man with a determined face.

"What?" The other man said with wide eyes, taken aback by the blunt request.

"I want to go and sail on the sea with you," Harry repeated looking straight into the other's eyes.

Ace looked at the petite man for a moment with an astonished expression on his face, not knowing what to say to that. Then he shook his head vigorously and looked at the feminine looking young man with a grave face.

"I'm sorry but I don't think it will be possible." The second division commander said.

"Why not?" The long dark haired hybrid replied stubbornly with a frown.

"It is too dangerous, it is not a place for someone like…" the freckled pirate began to say but got interrupted by Harry.

"Like who huh? Like me?" The young hybrid asked rhetorically, glaring at the other man. "It's not because I dress in a feminine way that I'm weak. I'm still a man and I am much stronger than you think I am."

Ace didn't know what to reply to this and just looked at the angry green-eyed beauty while trying to come up with a good reason as to why he couldn't come with him. But before he could, Harry added something that made him lose any weak argument he had tried to find.

"I want to become a pirate as well. Ever since I have arrived in this world, I have read and heard a lot about how this world is governed and pirates, and it has made me want to become one." The younger male told him with an extremely serious face, his eyebrows set into a determined frown. "You always told me about Whitebeard, about how great of a pirate he was and how you wanted to make him become the Pirate King. Well, I would like that too and I would like to join Whitebeard's crew."

The freckled pirate looked deep into the emerald green orbs, watching intensely the young hybrid's face as if searching for something such as hesitation or nervosity.

"Moreover, I have knowledge in medicine and therapeutic plants. I could be useful to you and treat you in case you get hurt." He argued further.

The older male sighed heavily in defeat, resigning himself to take the feminine looking young man with him. Don't get him wrong, in a way he was thrilled to have him come with him but at the same time he was afraid that something would turn bad and Harry would get hurt.

"All right you can come," Ace said scratching the back of his head in slight annoyance at having lost the argument. "But only if you listen to everything I say."

"Hai!" Harry said happily, smiling brightly at the other man.

Happy to have managed to convince the older male to let him come, he went to pack his bag, Inari helping as she had been the one to encourage him to go with the pirate. He felt a bit bad to have had to pretext that he wanted to become a pirate, though it wasn't really a lie either as he had already thought about joining a pirate crew. But he was still proud of having won the argument over the other man. A light happy feeling fluttered in the young hybrid's stomach, tickling him and making him feel all giggly and excited.

Once he was done packing the few belongings he had, he turned to the light brown haired woman, his friend, and smiled at her shyly, his eyes shiny and wet. The female doctor looked back at him with a soft smile and extended her arms in invitation for a hug.

"Come here." She told him in a soft teasing voice, giving him a small wink.

Without waiting to be asked twice, the ebony haired young man rushed into Inari's arms, hugging her with all his might.

"I'll miss you." He murmured to her, nuzzling slightly his face into her shoulder.

"I'll miss you too. Don't forget to give me news once in a while," She said back, hugging him back tightly before adding in a teasing tone, winking at him, "even when you become a famous pirate. And send me an invitation when you marry the big goof over there."

The young hybrid flushed a deep red at this last part and stepped out of the hug, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Inari!" He whined, while the woman laughed at his embarrassment, looking as red as a tomato.

"Be safe." She whispered to him softly, taking him in one last bear hug, almost squeezing the life out of him.

"I will." He said with a smile.

The two of them finished saying goodbye to each other and then walked together to the beach where Ace was waiting for Harry, leaning against his speedboat.

"Ready to go?" the freckled pirate asked, the other nodding silently, "Okay then let's do this."

Harry hugged Inari one more time, before walking to the speedboat and putting his bag next to Ace's one.

After that, the ebony haired young man stepped on the speedboat just behind the older male.

"Put your hands around me and hang on tight." The second division commander of Whitebeard's crew told him, the young hybrid quickly wounding his arms around the man's naked torso and holding onto him tightly.

Once he was sure that he was hanging on him tight, the older male lit his feet on fire. The speedboat came to life and roared before speeding away. Startled by the force and speed of the boat, Harry's arms tightened around Ace's waist and buried his face between his shoulder blades.

They didn't stop until they arrived at the next island, going nonstop without any pause, barely even speaking to know how the other was doing. But then, when they arrived at the next island, Ace would help Harry, who discovered that he felt a bit dizzy on this kind of fast transportation, stepping down of the speedboat. Then the freckled pirate would carry both of their bags. They would start walking around the nearest town to gather information about Blackbeard, trying to find out if he had been seen around.

After having tried to gather information, they would stop at a nearby restaurant and eat something. Afterward, if they had managed to get some information about Marshall D Teach, they would leave immediately after eating and go back on the sea. If not, they would spend the night at the local hotel, Ace paying for two bedrooms to the appreciation of the young hybrid.

Though his instincts told him to quickly bond with the older male, Harry didn't feel quite confortable to be intimate in that way with the other yet. Though the desire to kiss was beginning to get stronger until becoming almost unbearable, the feminine looking man understood that the tall man was not ready yet and that he was still coming to terms with this feeling that was pulling them toward one another.

In those moments where they wouldn't try to gather information, the two of them would talk and learn a lot more about the other. Harry would talk about his phoenix form and how it affected him while Ace would talk about the devil fruits and his own Mera Mera powers. Both would talk about much more personal things, what made them happy, what scared them, what their dreams were, etc. They would sometimes stay really late up at night, just talking for hours without even realizing that it was getting late.

They were beginning to get really closer to one another. To the point where they would brush each other unconsciously whenever one of them felt nervous or just wanted to feel the presence of the other. They never talked about getting together. It was becoming more and more clear that they both wanted to. It went on like this for a month until one day something happened that made their relationship evolve into a much more serious one.

**/****/**

It was a sunny day and the two were speeding on the sea to the next island. Harry, who hadn't spread his wings and flown for almost five days, was beginning to feel rather depressed. Desperately wanting to fly, the young male decided to speak up and talk to Ace about it.

"Hey Ace," he began to say, tapping the shoulder of the pirate to get his attention, "It's been five days since I've last flown and I really need to go fly for a bit or else I'll begin to not feel well. Could you stop the speedboat until I take off in the air please? I'll just follow you from the air."

"Sure." The dark brown haired man replied, the flames at his feet vanishing and making the speedboat slow down until it completely stopped.

Once the speedboat had stopped moving, the ebony haired man spread his wings and gave one powerful flap with them, propelling himself into the air. He closed his eyes in pure bliss as the fresh air hit his face and whole body, feeling as if he was finally breathing normally again. The feel of the wind gliding on his wings and through his feathers was making him feel exhilaratingly free. It felt so good to fly after such a long time.

He followed the freckled pirate from afar, floating in the air with his wings and letting the powerful winds push him forward. But then after a moment, he felt the need to go higher and into the clouds. Following his desire, the young male began to fly up to the clouds, his wings giving powerful thrusts downward make him go up.

"Harry what are you doing!?" Ace exclaimed when he realized that the hybrid was not following him anymore, after having looked up where he had been supposed to be.

"I just want to go up the clouds for a few seconds. Don't worry I'll catch up to you after." He answered loudly so that the devil fruit user could hear him.

But before he could go anywhere further, something that looked like fragments of a ship suddenly began falling from the clouds. Shocked to see that and not wanting to hit by the falling object, Harry quickly dived back down toward Ace, folding his wings on his back so that he could fall down faster.

"Ace!" he called as he sped to the freckled pirate.

"What is it Ha…" the dark haired man began to ask, stopping himself in mid sentence as he saw the debris falling from the sky, his jaw going slack and his eyes going wide in shock, exclaiming as Harry got nearer from him while slowing down the speedboat until it was totally stopped, "What the hell! Harry what happened?!"

"I don't know!" the young hybrid replied, sounding alarmed, "I was just about to go into the clouds to see what there was, but after that those things suddenly began to fall out in front of me!"

"That's really strange." Ace commented with a frown on his face as the fact that pieces of debris seemed to sometimes fall from the sky, "There is the Jaya Island not far away from here with a town called Mock Town there. Let's go there to eat and rest, maybe the people will know what is causing this phenomenon and we can ask them about it."

The young hybrid nodded his head approvingly and hopped onto the speedboat before it started to move once again while wrappining his arms tightly around the other man's waist.

Soon they arrived at the Jaya Island and went to dock the speedboat in a creek next to the port. It was a nice Spring island with a warm breeze and clear blue sky, letting the sun shine high and bright. Stepping out of the speedboat, they each took their respective bag and began to walk side by side toward the town.

The town was hustling and bustling with animation as they walked into it, people drinking and laughing together in a raucous manner. A little intimidated by the boisterous atmosphere, Harry unconsciously walked closer to Ace until their shoulders touched. The taller man looked down at the young hybrid, who was looking at the town and its inhabitants with a curious gaze as he watched everything that was going on around him, with a small smile at the mesmerized expression Harry had on his face.

"On Grande Line and the rest of the world, there are three sorts of island. There are the ones, which are under the Marine control, those which are either not under anyone's control, and those which are pirate territory." The freckled pirate commented in a conversional manner, knowing that it would interest him, "Mock Town is actually under pirate's control."

The ebony haired young man looked up at him with his big green eyes as he registered the information, before turning his gaze once again to the town and the people in the street.

"So this is a pirate town…" he said in wonder, before a smile appeared on his face, "It looks fun!"

"Yeah it is." The other replied with a smile as well at the words of the petite male.

Suddenly, Harry's attention got caught and his eyes locked on a jewel/accessory shop. With a grin spreading on his face, the young hybrid walked up to it and looked at the jewels and accessories on display in the front window.

"Harry, where are you going?" Ace asked as he looked at the feminine young man leaving his side.

"Can we go in there? I would like to see what they have." The other explained.

"Okay." He said, following the petite male inside the shop.

"Irashaimase!" the shop owner greeted them as he looked at the two men entering the shop, "Can I be of any help to you today?"

"Yes, could you show me the trinkets that you have please?" the young hybrid asked with a polite smile.

"Of course." The shop owner replied, hurriedly opening a drawer from which he took out a velvet cushion with lots of trinkets on it.

As he looked at the different trinkets, the ebony haired young man saw one representing a bird that looked like some sort of toucan. He immediately fell in love with the bird trinket and decided to buy it.

"I will take this one." He said, pointing at the bird.

"Very good choice. This bird is from this island." The shop owner told him while putting the trinket into a small bag before handing it to Harry.

After paying for the trinket, as well as for two black bracelets with silver skulls on it, and a braided blue leather bracelet with two silver rings on it with intricate symbols carved in them, Ace and Harry left the shop.

"I would like to do some more window shopping and maybe buy some things as well. It's the first time I come to this island and travel and I would like to see if they have any local products or specialties." Harry told the other, "Is that okay with you? If you want we can meet up later after I am done with this."

If there was something that Harry loved it was going into shops. He just loved looking at what the shops had to offer and maybe finding something he couldn't live without.

"I prefer to accompany you." The freckled pirate replied, not wanting to let the young hybrid move around this town alone.

It was too dangerous to let him walk by himself and with the ruthless pirates around, he didn't want to think about what would happen if those kind of guys would put their hands on the petite male.

With this decided they went into different shops, the young man looking at every little things in the shop and just having fun looking at all the different objects he found in them.

"Ne Harry, there was something I've wanted to ask you for some time." Ace said as they walked out of another shop, looking at the young hybrid intensely, his eyes glinting in genuine curiosity, "Why do you dress so feminine when you already have a rather androgynous figure."

The dark haired young man stopped walking, turned around and looked at the freckled pirate with a taken aback expression on his face.

"I have this type of figure because in the wind phoenix society there are two types of phoenixes. There are dominants and submissives, and apparently I am a submissive. Which means that my mate is to be a dominant." He told him, looking at him with a burning gaze, before a frown that almost looked like a scowl suddenly appeared on his face as he added, "As for the way I dress, it is because I like it. Wearing feminine clothes doesn't make me any less of a man. Fashion preferences don't define your worth or even who you are. You know, a book can't be judged by its cover."

After this long rant, Harry took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to calm himself, as his heart was pounding from having talked without taking a pause. He then looked up at the taller man, who was looking at him with a stunned expression on his face, before shame appeared on his face as he looked at the young hybrid with a sheepish glint in his eyes.

"I'm sorry. It was very indelicate of me to ask this." the older man apologized with a guilty tone of voice, "I didn't mean to sound judgmental or anything like this. It was just mere curiosity. I actually think that you look very cute, I mean you are very attractive in those clothes…"

Suddenly realizing that he was babbling and that he had just admitted finding the petite male cute, even going to the extent of saying he was attractive with the feminine clothes, the Whitebeard's pirate quickly shut his mouth to stop himself from saying anymore. At hearing this, Harry's eyes widened slightly before a big bright smile spread across his face in happiness. Though embarrassed at his own unplanned admission, Ace looked back at the young hybrid with a small shepish smile.

Without saying anything else, the two of them began to walk once again side by side, each with a small smile on their face, unconsciously walking close to one suddenly, the freckled pirate turned to the feminine looking young man.

"Could you tell me more about wind phoenixes?" he asked him, genuine interest showing in his voice.

"I can do better." the other replied with a smile, putting his hand inside his bag as he seemed to search for something before pulling his hand out of it and holding a book out to the taller man, "Here are all the notes I have made throughout my researches on everything I found about wind phoenixes. This is the only thing I have left from the world I am originally from. I had taken as a habit to carry it around with me. I guess it wasn't completely useless."

"Thank you." Ace said with a smile as he took the small notebook from the other's hand and tucking it inside one of his pants' side pocket.

"You're welcome." The petite male told him with a warm smile before his eyes brightened as he turned his head around and saw a restaurant not far away, he then turned back to the other man with an excited expression on his face, "Let's go eat there I'm starving!"

With their location decided, they headed to this bar/restaurant that looked to have a calmer and cozier atmosphere too. Takinging a seat at the bar, they began to look at the menu after having each ordered a drink. When the bartender went back with their orders and placed them down in front of them, Ace decided that it was a good time to talk to the man about what Harry and he were curious about.

"We've come across something very interesting while coming here." The freckled pirate began to say in a mysterious voice that caught the bartender's attention, "We were sailing toward here when suddenly wood pieces and other debris began to fall from the sky."

The bartender's eyes lit up in recognition at hearing this.

"Ah yeah you're not the first ones that has happened to." The man said, "Ever since that day when we heard a loud bell ring, evey now and then there are debris that are falling from the sky."

As Ace was going to ask the man about if he knew anything about what was causing this, the bartender began to talk once again, saying something that picked Ace's interest.

"It's funny how this kid with a straw hat and his crew had kept asking about the celestial islands when they here just a few weeks ago, and had been laughed at and mocked by everyone. And now things are falling from the sky." He said in a thoughtful expression, rubbing his chin pensively while talking.

"A kid with a straw hat?" the freckled pirate repeated as he looked at the bartender with a concentrated look, "Did he also have this 'happy go lucky' grin on his face and ate like a pig?"

"Seems like a good description of him yeah." The other confirmed with a nod of his head with a slight amused smirk.

"Yeah that's definitely Luffy… And he was looking for the sky islands, the ones called Skypiea?" Ace asked rhetorically, an eyebrow rose in surprise, "I wonder how he learned about them..."

"Beats me." The bartender replied with a nonchalant shrug, "But I never heard about him again after he beat Bellamy to a pulp as payback for having hurt the old Norland lad."

"Bellamy the hyena?" the dark haired man exclaimed, his eyes widening slightly before a broad smile broke on his face, "That's my little brother for you."

While this conversation was going on, Harry looked at the two men quietly while eating his food, listening to them talking and hearing about Ace's brother. Though he had heard a lot about Luffy from the taller man, it was the first time to hear someone else talk about him as well. Moreover, it seemed like he had tried to go to theses sky islands. Sky islands… The young hybrid couldn't believe it. Was it possible? Could they really exist?

After some much talking with the bartender and after having finished their meal, they left the restaurant. They then began to ask people around what they knew about the sky islands. Gathering information for a few more hours, asking for both the celestial islands and Blackbeard, learning that who had actually been on this island at the same time as Luffy and his crew and had even left at the same time as him, looking like he was following him. At hearing this, it became clear to Ace that they had to go to the celestial islands to see if his little brother and Blackbeard were still there.

"Well now we have a lead that Blackbeard might have gone to Skypiea." Ace commented, as he and Harry were sitting at a table on the terrace of a bar drinking a cold drink while enjoying the sun, "Maybe we should prepare ourselves to go there."

The dark brown haired then looked at the feminine looking hybrid, who was right now radiating with excitement and the desire to have an adventure, making him smile at the readiness and enthusiasm of the young man.

"Now the only question is how we are going to go up there." The freckled pirate said pensively, trying to think back about the way that they had gone there the first time he had gone there with Whitebeard and the rest of the crew.

"We can fly there. I can change into my full phoenix form and carry you." The ebony haired young man told him with a big excited smile.

"You will be able to carry all the way there?" he asked the petite male with a teasing awed expression on his face, the latter quite offended that he had even dared ask such a question.

"Of course I can! Phoenixes can carry to ten times their weight!" Harry replied in a snort, puffing up his chest proudly and raising his head high while trying to hide the pout that had formed on his face.

Ace smiled lightly at the young man, finding his reaction really cute.

"Okay then let's go." He said with his trademark grin, winking mischievously to the feminine looking hybrid, who was blushing at this before following the chuckling devil fruit user while grumbling about smirking faces.

Once the speedboat was put into a creek, hidden to the eyes of curious people who could come around here, the freckled pirate took their bags and put them both on his shoulder. Harry then turned into his full phoenix form and gently grabbed onto the older male's hand and took off in the air toward the clouds once again.

Along with discovering his new hybrid form, the young male had soon realized that he could also still fully transform into a phoenix. He had been so happy to know that he could still transform into it. It had made him feel like he could escape his hybrid form if he wanted to from time to tome.

"You better not let go of me or I'll die." Ace told Harry with a teasing smirk.

The wind phoenix responded to this by letting a shrill that sounded like laughter before he took off, flapping his powerful wings into the air.

Taking flight they then flew high into the clouds, going higher and higher until the reached the clouds. Though they looked like big soft pieces of cotton, once inside, the hybrid discovered that they were in fact just wet masses of mist. His wings and whole body had droplets of water gathering on them and he was soon soaked from head to toe. Wanting to go further despite the fact that those clouds felt more and more like he was swimming in water, he used his wings to help him 'swim' faster. Soon, they began to see a ray of light going through this maze of watery clouds.

Once they got out of the sea of clouds, The long ebony haired young man took them to the big gate he had seen from afar. As they got nearer, Harry noticed that the gate had cracks and holes all over it, which he hadn't noticed from afar. Landing on the sidewalk that was going the entrance to a door of what looked like a checkpoint office.

"Well its looks like we indeed are in the celestial island Skypiea." Ace commented as he looked around at the tattered Gate, "Though I'm wondering why this gate is in such a state. It wasn't like that when I came the first time. Something must have happened."

"You've already come here before?" Harry asked surprised after having turned back into his hybrid form, looking with a gaze full of curiosity to the taller man.

"Hm yeah, a year ago with the old man. I had been sailing for about a year and a half under his command at that time. Though I had completely forgotten that it was located there." He said with a thoughtful gaze, smirking slightly when he remembered the rash brat he had been when he had just begun working under Whitebeard, before turning around to look at the young hybrid with a grin, the excitement of adventure shining in his eyes, "Shall we go up there to see exactly what is going on?"

Harry noddining his head enthusiastically, turning back into his phoenix form to taking flight once again while grabbing at Ace, and continued to flew toward the island in the clouds.

_TBC_

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**_Irashaimase= Greetings, or welcome to our shop_**

**I hope you have liked this chapter. Thank you for your review and please keep on giving them to let me know what you thought of it. It will make me very happy to know what you think and it will motivate me even more.** ^^


	4. Sky Holidays

**Hello everyone! Here is the 4****th**** chapter of Phoenix Love and Fire Fist!**

**Enjoy! ;-)**

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_Quote from Harry's research notebook about wind phoenixes:__ Contrary to fire phoenixes, wind phoenixes cannot be taken as pets as they are too independent and wild for it. But, if you manage to befriend one, it will be loyal to you until death much like they are with their mate(s). The only way to lose their friendship and/or loyalty is to be a threat in a way to their mate(s)._

**/*****/**_  
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After flying for about a good half-hour of following a twisted road made out of clouds, they finally arrived at the level of the sky island. In front of them was a series of little island made of clouds. The first one had what looked like a really nice beach made of fluffy white clouds with palm trees and other tropical trees. But as they were admiring the beauty of the fluffy whiteness that were those island clouds. They suddenly realized that the buildings and houses that they could see seemed for some of them to be damaged. What looked like gigantic creepers of some sorts were torn down.

Intrigued by the reason why it looked like a hurricane had gone by, they landed on the shore of the island while looking around curiously.

"It looks like it has been ravaged by a horde of pillagers." Harry commented as he changed back into his hybrid form, while he looked at the damaged buildings and others, adding with a concerned tone of voice, "I hope the inhabitants are safe."

"Well there is only one way to find out," Ace replied as he began to walk toward a cracked stairway that went up to the other cloud levels.

The young hybrid followed him closely, still looking around him with mesmerized look on his as he took all his surroundings in.

"I can't believe everything is made out of cloud here." He said in an amazed tone, touching with his hand the fluffy white clouds that were on each side, "This is just so surreal and beautiful."

"Yeah, the Skypieans have mastered the art of using clouds as they wish for centuries. They know everything about clouds and the sky in general." The freckled pirate replied, taking a huge chunk of cloud and molding into a teddy bear before giving it to the petite male who took it with a big happy smile on his face.

As they soon arrived on the next level of island, they were met with spectacle that made the older man go wide eyes. There in front of them people with pale skin and others with a darker tone of skin, both of them with a small pair of wings on their back, were repairing and reconstructing everything that had been damaged or destroyed. Skypieans and Shandians were working together hand in hand.

"What is it? What's wrong Ace?" the feminine looking young man asked with a concerned expression on his face as he looked at the other's shocked face.

"The two types of people that you are seeing right now used to be enemies the last time I was there," he told him gravely as he turned to look back at him, an expression of wonder on his face, "I never would have imagined that they would ever become friends and help each other."

At that moment a middle age brown haired man noticed them and walked up to them.

"Welcome Blue Sea visitors to Skypea." He greeted them with a friendly smile, "My name is Pagaya. I am sorry for the state of our wonderful island but we just barely recovered from a strenuous battle where we regained our freedom."

"Oi Pagaya! Who are you talking to?" a rough looking Shandian man with long dark brown hair and covered in tribal tattoos asked, walking up to the three men and looking at the two strangers with a scrutinizing look as if scanning them up if they were threats or not.

"Ah Wiper-san, these are newcomers from the Blue Sea." Pagaya said, turning toward the coming man.

"Hi my name is Portgas D Ace. I'm sorry that we are coming to such a bad time but we really wanted to visit the sky islands." Ace apologized politely with a slight bow, while Harry looked at the winged men with a strong curiosity shining in his eyes, "Plus we are looking for one whom we heard had come here."

The man named Wiper looked at him with furrowed eyebrows as he was apparently trying to see if he was lying. Then after some time, he seemed to decide that he believed the freckled pirate and nodded at him before turning his eyes to the young hybrid. He looked at him with a studying expression, his eyes settling on the large that were folded behind his back for a moment.

"Are you really from the Blue Sea?" he asked with a slightly curious tone where you could hear a suspicious hint in it.

"I do. But Harry comes from another world." Ace replied, stepping slightly in between Harry and the Shandian man in a protective manner.

"I see." Wiper said with a thoughtful nod, his eyes never leaving the petite male, who was looking right back at him in slight defiance.

"We should take them to God. He would be able to help them." Pagaya suddenly intervened, making Wiper break eye contact with Harry to turn to look at him.

"God?" the young hybrid repeated surprised and confused.

"Here the leader of the island is called God by the inhabitants." Ace quickly explained to him in a whisper, making the younger man's eyes lit in comprehension.

"Very well, let's take them to Gan Fall." The tattooed man replied, with a nod in agreement, "Right now he must be helping repairing the third level of the island."

The four men then began to walk up to the third level in a relative silence, Wiper only glancing from time to time to the two men who were walking behind them to see if they were following. They walked for about 40 minutes before finally reaching the third level. They then walked to a part where almost everything was in shambles and people were picking and shovel the gravels and other debris in big piles and rebuilding.

"Oi Gan Fall!" Wiper called, making an old man with a rather emaciated figure and long white hair held back in a ponytail turn around to look at the newcomers, "We have two people coming from the Blue Sea here. They say they are looking for someone."

His eyebrows rising in surprise and interest the old man walked up to them and looked at Ace and Harry before extending his hand.

"Hi, my name is Gan Fall I am Skypea's God." He said, presenting himself a he shook their hand.

"Hi, I'm Ace and this is Harry." The freckled pirate replied, "We came here because we are looking for someone and we heard that he come here."

"Well let's go to my house and talk about this. I don't know if I can help you but I will do everything I can to do so." The old man told them, turning around and beginning to walk toward a small house on top of a hill.

Once they arrived at the house Gan Fall offered them a cup of tea and they sat down at the living room table. After a few seconds of silence where they enjoyed their tea, Ace asked the question that he and the other man had been itching to ask.

"Why is the island in this state?" he asked, his voice full with curiosity.

"A few years ago a man named Enel came to Skypea and attacked with his army, and me as well as the Shandians at the same time." Gan Fall told them with a grave face, "He then took the position of God of Skypiea for himself, forcing me to go into hiding. He reigned over the island through fear with his power to control lightning and create electricity. Those were very dark years where he made everyone who came here pay numerous taxes and would not hesitate killing them if they didn't cooperate."

"But then about a month ago, something happened that changed the whole island and its inhabitants." The old man added, a small smile appearing on his face as he told them with a chuckle, "A young man with a straw-hat and his crew arrived on the island. They made quite a ruckus and raised hell in the whole island, whether it was with the Skypieans or the Shandians. This young pirate was completely crazy but he is the one to whom we owe the defeat of Enel and the reconciliation of the Skypieans and the Shandians."

"What was his name?" Harry immediately asked, speaking faster than Ace who had wanted to ask the exact same question.

"Monkey D Luffy." The old man answered, making the two men look at each other for a moment at the mention of Ace's little brother, "Why do you know him?"

"He is my younger brother." The freckled pirate said, before inquiring with a concerned frown on his face, "Was there a man named Blackbeard following him?"

This question took aback the older man who looked at him surprised for a moment before shaking his head negatively.

"No it was only him and his crew." The other replied, "Was this Blackbeard you were looking for?"

"Yes. He was one of my crewmembers and he killed one of his fellow crewmates before leaving. As commander of the ship it is my duty to catch him and punish him for his crime." The brown wavy haired man said with a grave face.

"I see." Gan Fall said with un understandingly sympathetic nod, "Well I am sorry that I didn't such a man here. I have only seen your brother and his wonderful crew. He is a great pirate."

"That he is." Ace said with a smile as he thought about Luffy, "And thankfully his crew is there to keep an eye on him."

The three men continued to talk to each other for a while, Harry excitedly asking every questions that went through his head about Skypea, its people and its history. The young hybrid had discovered himself a great interest in history, which he had found boring when he learned it from Mr. Binns.

But now that he was in this new world and was travelling around, he found a lot of fun in learning as much as he could about the history and the people of the place they stopped at. Who would have thought that he would become a scholar like this huh? That mere thought was making the person concerned by this chuckle in self-mockery.

The two men did some more research and learned a bit more from other inhabitants about the Mugiwara crew and what they had done for this island. After that it was decided that they would stay and spend two nights there to rest, and get back some strength from the long journey they had already accomplished, before taking the sea again. The long ebony haired young man had been rather disappointed that they had to leave so fast as he wanted to stay there longer, to see and learn more about it.

Since they were staying, the two men offered their help to the locals to help them in the repairing and rebuilding the buildings and houses. Ace would help repairing walls and roofs, while Harry would transform into his wind phoenix form and would carry the huge bags full of debris to take them from one place to another. People had been astonished by his abilities and had thought at first that he might have been some deity that had come to them. But they soon realized he had just extraordinary capabilities that made him special.

As he was helping to see if someone else needed his help, the feminine looking young man suddenly noticed two women at a stand looking they were in dilemma.

One of them had pale skin and blond hair in two braided pigtails and two antennas sticking out at the top of her head. She wore a pink dress with black, flower shaped textures that went to her thighs. She also wore red and pink striped sandals that were white on the bottom.

The other woman was a tall black-haired woman, with two large bangs parted to either side of her face on the front, and a long and elaborate ponytail on the back. She had lightly tanned skin, dark green eyes, and her lips were apparently covered with pink lipstick. Her outfit consisted of a light purple cleavage-revealing tunic with darker pattern and light-red pants that were opened on the inside of her legs, with matching colored shoes.

"Hi, do you need some help? I would gladly help you if you want." He proposed with a small friendly smile as the two women turned to look at him, he then extended his hand as he introduced himself, "My name is Harry by the way."

"Heso Harry-san. My name is Conis and this is Laki." The blond young woman presented herself and the other woman beside her while shaking the young hybrid's hand, "We are actually trying to decide what to do for dinner as we are, along with another group of people, the ones in charge to all the people from that level."

"Nice to meet you both." Harry replied with smile before his face turned serious, "So what ingredients do you have within your reach to make the supper?"

"We have flour, eggs, rice, fish, seashells, several types of spices, fruits and pumpkins." The one called Laki told him.

The young hybrid thought about it for a moment, repeatedly listing all the goods he had at his disposition before an idea clicked into his head. He then looked up at the women who were looking at him with a curious expression on their face.

"I think I have an idea of what you could do. Do you mind if I do it?" he said with an excited happy gleam in his eyes at the prospect of cooking.

He then began to bustle around the 'kitchen' as he prepared dinner for the hundreds of people at this level. He would give from time to time tasks to do to the two women, asking them to help with one thing or another, which they did enthusiastically.

An hour later, a sweet mouthwatering began wafting toward the workers, making their stomach growl and have drool slightly coming out of their mouth as they scanned with hunger for the source of this delicious smell. Soon a huge table was put up and a series of succulent dishes were put on it.

On the table you could see big dishes of pumpkin pastas mixed with a mix spices, grilled saury fish, scallops cooked in a sweet caramelized spiced fruit sauce, fried rice and pumpkin bread as well as pies. In front of such an opulent amount of luscious food, everyone could feel themselves become more and more hungry by the second. Then, almost at the same moment, everyone jumped at the food, quickly taking a seat at the table and serving themselves some of the wonderfully smelling food.

"Itadakimasu!" they all sung in chorus before eating to their heart content.

Harry looked at the big assembly happily eating the food and marveling at how good it was. He had always known he wasn't half bad in the kitchen but it always felt great to hear that your cooking was appreciated. Suddenly he felt the presence of someone coming on his right and turned his head to see it was Conis walking to him with a glass in each hand.

"Here, have some pumpkin juice. You deserved it after making all this for us." She told him with a big smile, handing him one of the glass.

"Thank you." He said with a thankful smile as he accepted it and took thirsty gulp out of it, relishing into the soothing feeling of the cold drink, before a hint of nostalgia hit him as he remembered Hogwarts and it banquets making him have a slight sad nostalgic smile on his face, "It's delicious."

Though he tried not to think about it too much, he missed Hogwarts and the wizarding world in general. He missed the great delicious banquets at the castle, Diagon Alley with all it crazy shops, the incredible candies of Honeydukes, doing Quidditch, and all his friends. But were they really his friends anymore? Did they have the same views as Dumbledore? Were they in the confidence that the old wizard wanted to kill him after having saved the world from Voldemort? Had Voldemort even been a real bad guy from the start? After having been betrayed by the person he had trusted the most he didn't know anymore.

"Lets go have some of the food before everything is gone." Conis suddenly said, pulling the young hybrid out of his thoughts, dragging to two free seats so that they could sit and eat.

Meanwhile Ace was stuffing his face with the delicious food, protecting his plate from others while reaching even more food at the same time. He couldn't believe how good the food was. Those sky people were really good at cooking! But then again he didn't remember eating such food the last time he came here. The way the dishes were cooked felt familiar, like he had tasted this style of cooking not long ago.

The freckled pirate's gaze then landed on the young hybrid who was sitting not far, surrounded by both Skypieans and Shandians with whom he seemed to get along well as they laughing together.

Wiper had stopped looking suspiciously at both him and Ace, but the latter still found that his gaze was lingering way too long on him. Why was he staring at him anyway? The freckled pirate was feeling annoyance rise as he watched Wiper looking at the ebony haired young man, wanting to stand up and tell him to stop staring.

The rest of the meal went on well, everyone enjoying the unexpected banquet to its fullest and having a fun time together. Once they were done, Ace and Harry were led to a small thatched cottage by the beach from which they arrived.

"Thank you very much for your help today. But you should take the day off tomorrow. After all you are our guests, you should rest and enjoy what this island has to offer." Gan Fall told them as he took them there.

"You are welcome. It was a pleasure." The wavy brown haired replied with a smile, "Maybe we'll follow your advice."

They then bid each other goodnight and went their separate ways, the two men going inside the cottage.

"Those people are so nice." Harry said as he made himself comfortable inside the cottage, sitting on the couch with a sigh.

"They are." Ace agreed as he went to serve himself and the petite male a glass of pumpkin juice from jug that Conis had given them to the happiness of the younger of the two, "I still can't believe they gave us a jug full of pumpkin juice."

"I might have mentioned that it reminded me of my native world." The other replied with an embarrassed smile while he gladly accepted the glass that the taller man offered him, "It gives me a really comforting feeling whenever I drink it."

The freckled pirate, who had sat down next to him, extended his hand as if wanting to reach for him and comfort him. But he hesitated and retracted his hand, putting next to his hand and brushing him slightly with this action.

After a moment of silence, where both men were sipping their pumpkin juice in slightly awkward silence, the wavy brown haired man broke the silence.

"Wiper seemed to be very interested in you." He commented out of the blue, a slight hard jealous edge to his voice.

"Really? I didn't notice anything." The petite male said in a surprised and confused voice, "But why would he look at me."

"Why wouldn't he look at you?" the older man replied with an eyebrow raised as he looked at him.

"Well hum I don't know. It's just that I don't know what could be interesting about me." Harry said with an embarrassed shrug.

"Everything is interesting about you! You are wonderful human being with a great personality. Anybody would be extremely lucky to be with you!" Ace exclaimed with passion, as he felt a slight anger at the fact that he had such a low self-esteem.

Suddenly he realized what he had just said and his face became red all over.

"I think I'll go to bed." He said quickly, standing up abruptly and leaving for one of the two bedrooms that had been prepared for them, leaving a flabbergasted young hybrid behind him.

The next day, the two of them went back to help the inhabitants during the morning. Harry would help the girls with the cooking and giving proposing water to the workers, while Ace would keep helping the latter with repairing and rebuilding.

After an intensive afternoon of working helping around with everything they could, they were shooed away by the inhabitants. The latter scolded them, telling them to go relax and enjoy the island and the beach. So, they decided to do exactly that and went back to the cottage to change and go swim in the cloud sea.

The young hybrid would have a grand time diving and swimming into the sea of clouds. As for Ace, he was enjoying the sun on a deck chair, sipping on a fresh fruit cocktail while watching the other have fun in the sea with a fond smile on his face. He then recalled what he had said to him last night and he felt his face heat up at the memory.

How could he have sputtered this without realizing? He must have looked like a fool in front of the petite male. He must have taken him for a sappy guy. Yeah everything he had told him was true and he firmly meant everything he said. But this was not something you should say out loud. It was supposed to be your little treasured secret, the sort admiration and adoration that you kept for yourself.

But what had unsettled him the most was the fact that the ebony haired beauty hadn't treated any different after that. There had been no awkward or embarrassed behavior toward him, no look of disgust or disappointment. He had looked at him exactly the same way he had always had. He wasn't rejecting him nor acting any different after what he had said to him. It was like his admission had just been one of those moments that happened but that he wasn't going to dwell on.

The freckled pirate was rather thankful for that but at the same time he was a bit concerned by the lack of response from him. Did that mean he liked his 'declaration' and that he would rather forget about it and pretend it never happened? He knew he shouldn't give himself a headache over that. After all it was a very petty matter wasn't it?

He knew Harry wasn't a petty person, nor was he the type of guy to make fun of you for something like this. He was a kind understanding human. Moreover he had called him his mate when they had first met. Didn't that mean that he cared a lot for him? Why was he worrying himself so much? Sure he didn't like the way Wiper looked at his Harry but it didn't mean he could act like grumpy hormonal teenager.

He didn't even recall when he had begun to think of the young hybrid as his. But every time he thought or looked at him he had a warm feeling spreading through him, and he couldn't help but smile.

Then suddenly, as he had been lost in his thoughts, he noticed that the feminine looking young man was coming to him. At this moment his brain seemed disconnect for a moment as he looked at the green eyed beauty walking up to him. Water was running down his beautifully lightly tanned slim body, drops gliding sensually down his soft looking skin. His hips were swaying in a sensual movement, his swimming trunks riding low on those narrow hips. The sun was reflecting on the teal highlights of his hair and his wings, making glow even more than usual.

He was so stunning that Ace felt as if he couldn't breathe anymore. He had only one idea thought in mind and it was to ravish the young man here and there, marking him as his and never letting him go ever again.

"Let's go visit the island." The ebony haired beauty suddenly said with an excited childish grin at the idea of an adventure as he arrived to his height, pulling Ace out of his trance, "I heard there were some ruins of the Shandians' ancestors in an island nearby called Jaya."

"Sure let's go." The freckled pirate replied with a small smile he averted his eyes from the tempting wet body in front of him and looking at the other's face.

They decided before to do some shopping so that Harry could buy something more appropriate to stroll and walk into the Jaya Island. Thankfully, as all the inhabitants had wings on their back it wasn't very hard to find something that the young hybrid liked and that he wouldn't have to create holes in the back for his wings. The young hybrid quickly settled on a simple white tank top with a pair of jeans and comfortable walking ankle boots.

They then took off for Jaya, Harry changing into a phoenix for the short journey so that they didn't have to take one those dangerous wavers that the locals had. They spent the rest of the afternoon in the ruins, the ebony haired young man having a grand time as he explored excitedly the ruins in search of new information about the history of this island and its people. The older man would follow him calmly with an amused smile on his face as he watched the other squeal and jump in excitement at another discovery. The latter had a small notebook in which he would sometimes scribble things down at a quick speed.

'It reminds me of the one he gave to me.' He thought as he felt with his hand the slight bulge where he knew the notebook containing all the information about wind phoenixes.

He hadn't read much yet but what he had read had been extremely enlightening, making him understand the petite male much better.

As they walk through the ruins of Jaya, the two of them grow even closer and enjoy spending time together even if they don't talk very much. Sometimes they would stop for a moment to rest and hydrate themselves or have a snack. The ebony haired young man had brought with him some water and a few local snacks they had bought in town before leaving.

When the sun began to set they decided that it was time to go back home and left Jaya, slightly reluctantly on Harry's part, as he had wanted to explore a little longer. Once back at the cottage, the young hybrid went to the kitchen and prepared dinner for the two of them. He set up the table nicely with a scented pumpkin spiced candle that he had bought in town earlier along with the clothes.

Soon the smell of sage roasting chicken and a plate of mashed sweet potatoes with nuts and raisins began wafting all over the place, making Ace's stomach growl. He went to see what was going on inside the kitchen, but before he could do that he stopped at the sight of the table that had been put up on the cottage's deck.

The table was put up nicely in a simple way with a steaming plate of mashed potatoes in the middle of it, sending off a delicious scent that made the man's mouth water. Suddenly, the petite male walked out of the kitchen with the whole chicken on a large wooden cutting board and a big cutting knife.

"Dinner is served." The feminine looking young man declared happily as he set the chicken down on the table and began cutting it.

"This smells delicious." The freckled pirate commented as he took a seat with a smile, feeling anticipation at eating the wonderfully smelling food, "Where did you find all those spices and the chicken?"

"Conis-san helped me by giving everything I needed." The green eyed young man replied with a smile as he too sat at the table after having served the both of them some chicken, letting the rest of the chicken next to the older man as he knew he would eat the rest of it.

They began to eat with gusto and talked very little while they enjoyed the meal Harry had prepared. The ebony haired young man loved watching Ace enjoying his cooking, it was so gratifying to see that what you were doing was appreciated. They had a local wine and some pumpkin juice to accompany the meal, and had as a background noise the sound of the waves coming and going on the beach of clouds. The atmosphere was quiet and relaxed.

The moon was now high in the sky and the stars were many and bright in the sky, making the dark blue-night sky looked like a big velvet curtain with a million of tiny gems sewed on it. When they were finished eating, their stomach with a content smile on their face, they watched side by side the night sky with a calm expression. As they were enjoying the quiet evening, the young hybrid suddenly turned to the older man with a playful excited gleam in his eyes.

"Let's go for a swim." He said out of the blue, standing up and turning to him, making the other look at him with a taken aback expression before his face softened and a smile appeared on his face.

"Sure why not." The wavy brown haired man replied, standing up and going to go change into his swimming trunks.

Once he had changed, the freckled pirate went out of the cottage and saw that Harry was already going into the water, quickly following him. His breathing quickened when he saw the beautiful young hybrid, who had now water up to his waist.

His long ebony hair with teal highlights were cascading down his back and on his chest, looking just stunning under the moonlight. The moon was making him look like he was made out of pure silver. Mesmerized by the scene in front of him, the fire user walked slowly to the water, joining the feminine looking young man.

Thankfully for the devil fruit user, as clouds were made out of still water, this sea cloud didn't weaken him in any way. It was the only sea where he could go in it and not feel weak and sink like a rock.

As soon as he arrived next to him, he looked down into the deep emerald pools that were the petite male's eyes.

Harry looked up at him with an intense gaze, a small mischievous smirk appearing on his face. Then, without any warning, the young hybrid threw some water to his face, making Ace cough slightly as water got in his and looked at him with shocked expression before a similar smirk stretched on his face. A water fight was then ensued as both men began splashing water at each other, laughing and playing in a childish manner with each other.

The water battle then turned into a wrestling match, where one of them began to try to overpower the other and put his head underwater. After a moment of wrestling where they tried to make each other trip and fall underwater they took a break, both soaked by having being pushed underwater. They were both breathing heavily with a smile on their face as they still chuckled after their playful little fight.

Suddenly their eyes met and their chuckle died off, their gaze became slightly glazed with desire as they stared at each other. They then quickly glanced down at each other's lips before looking up once again, staring intensely deep into the eyes of one another. Slowly they began to lean toward each other, their heart pounding wildly and feeling like it was going to burst out of their chest.

Their breath began to mingle when they were close enough, feeling the other's breath on their face. The time seemed to freeze as they got nearer to each other. It felt like it was going way too slow. Then, finally, their lips touched and it was like an explosion. A spark of lust lit their bodies on fire as they kissed, passion fueling their kiss, their eyes closing in bliss.

Letting out a moan, Harry wound his arms around the Ace's neck, pressing his body close to his, the latter putting his arms around his waist in response. The petite male then felt the tongue of the older man lick his lips, silently asking permission for entrance into his mouth. He enthusiastically accepted by opening his mouth and letting the other's tongue enter his mouth. The fire user happily began to roam his tongue all over inside the mouth of the young hybrid, mapping every inch of it. He then decided to poke his tongue with his, trying to make it play with his. When he took the hint, the ebony haired young man responded back by beginning to play with the other's tongue, massaging and caressing each other.

They kissed passionately like that for a moment, not letting go of one another. They clung to each other with fervor like their life depended on it, like they were each the other's lifeline. They unfortunately had to separate from each other at some point as the need for air started to make itself known. Breathing heavily after the intense make-out session, they rested their forehead against each other's. They looked into each other's eyes with a burning gaze before they smiled at each other.

"We should go to be. We are getting up early tomorrow morning." Ace said, kissing lovingly Harry's forehead before stepping away from him.

He took the young hybrid's hand and began to walk hand in hand with him toward the cottage, both of them a happy smile on their face as they walked with their fingers linked together.

_TBC_

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**Yay they are kissing! XD So, what did you think of it?**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter and don't hesitate to leave me a review to let me know what you thought of it!**

**See you next time!**


	5. Infiltration in Marineford

**Hey everyone! How are you all doing on this fine day?**

**Me I'm good. ^^ I'm sorry for the lateness of this chapter but between the fact that my mother got married and that I went to Eirtakon (the irish version of Comic Con), I didn't get a lot of time for writing.**

**Btw, I would like to address the concern that someone had about Ace not being able to swim in the cloud sea in the previous chapter. No offense to Oda-sensei or anything (I'll always love him (in a platonic way!) for having given us such a wonderful manga like OP), but clouds do not have salted water in them. When water evaporates it leaves the salt behind and becomes fresh again. And I verified that on a government based website with a scientific corner (because this is the first link that appeared in front of me when I Googled it).**

**If you want here is the website: www. newton. dep. anl. gov/ askasci/ gen99/ gen99541. htm (just delete the spaces to get to it)**

**Now tonight you'll go to bed smarter. ;-)**

**Here you go everyone! Let's get this chapter started!**

**Enjoy!**

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Quote from Harry's research notebook about wind phoenixes:

Wind phoenixes are very protective of their mates, offspring and people they consider as family. As such, if any important members are threatened or harmed the wind phoenixes can become very violent and dangerous.

/****/

How did they end up in this situation? That was one of the questions that Harry kept asking to himself in his head as they were running into the corridors of Marineford, the Marine's headquarters, trying to get away from a group of Marines.

Everything had been going on well up until now.

They had left with slight regret Skypea, and had gone back to the blue sea to continue pursuing Blackbeard. At some point they had finally had found a clue as to where the man could have gone and had followed it. Going from one lead to another, they soon learned about the fact that Marshall D Teach was seen in the company of a vice-admiral from the Marine headquarters.

This fact had quite shocked both of them as that meant that the rogue pirate was working with the Marine. What did he have in mind by doing this? Did he want to take the place of Crocodile, who had been demoted from his Shichibukai status after having been beaten by Luffy?

Thinking that they might be able to get some information about his whereabouts, they decided to infiltrate the base and search for information. This is how they began to plan their infiltration into the biggest Marine base. It was soon decided that Harry would serve as a decoy to help them get inside the place where all documents about pirates were stored, since due to the fact that his hybrid appearance would attract a lot of attention. As for Ace, he would pretend to be a simple soldier trying to fit in as much as possible.

This is how they went as near as they could with the speedboat before anchoring it so that it wouldn't go anywhere. The young hybrid then changed into his full wind phoenix form. He then carried the freckled pirate who had changed into a Marine's uniform that he had stolen from a Marine earlier at the previous island. The two entered the fortress that was Marineford and quietly and discreetly landed at the back of some building.

Marineford was a crescent moon-shaped island that is composed completely of bricks and steel, with cannons on the edges. It was a place with a both great and intimidating structure.

Once they had successfully entered the fortress without being noticed, Harry turned back into his hybrid form. The two men then began to walk toward the tower that was raised at the center of this fortress, as it was where all the files and important documents were stored. Unfortunately, except for the fact that they knew this was the building where they would find what they were looking for, they had no idea exactly where in the building those papers were. As such they would have to search through the whole building to find them. It was going to be a very long and dangerous search but they had no other choice. They needed to find out what exactly was the relationship between Blackbeard and the Marine.

As they arrived near the entrance of the tower, the two guards who were on duty saw them approach and looked at them slightly suspiciously.

"Halt! State your name and rank soldier." One of the guards told Ace abruptly, looking slightly threatening with the way he held his shotgun.

"Hai!" the disguised pirate said, standing very straight as he did the military salute, "First class Sabo Sakazuki."

"Sakazuki?" the other guard repeated surprised, looking at Ace with wide eyes, "Are you related to Admiral Akainu?"

"He is my father." He replied, lying through his teeth with a huge grin plastered on his face as the whole situation amused him greatly.

"I have never heard about him having a son." The other guard commented with a deep frown on his face as he looked at the undercover young man in front of him.

"That's because I have always been a huge disgrace for him." The freckled pirate told them in an almost cheerful voice, "He pretends that he doesn't have a son so that he doesn't say how much of a disappointment I am."

"I can see why." The guard said as he looked critically at the laid back attitude and slightly opened shirt of the young man, which made the normally strict uniform look much less formal and looser like.

"What about the young lady that is accompanying you?" the first guard asked as he turned to look at Harry, eyeing him from head to toe, his eyes insisting on the slim figure of the latter.

"This is Yuki Sengoku. She is here to see her uncle and I am the one accompanying her there." Ace replied quickly, making the guard turn his head back to him and look at him once again suspiciously.

"We've never been informed of such a visit. We are informed of every visit from a civilian as well as the motive for this visit beforehand." He said with a stern tone, "We cannot allow entrance unless we have been informed about this the day before."

"So that means I am not going to be able to see oji-chan?" Harry suddenly asked in a sad cute little voice, making the other men turn sharply to look at him at hearing him.

The long dark haired hybrid's lower lip was jutting out slightly in an adorable pout as he looked at the guard with wet shiny eyes, looking like he was about to cry. The three males all felt a lump forming in their throat at the adorable and heartbreaking scene.

Even Ace who knew it was all just an act, to make the other men accept to let them through, had a hard time not running to the petite male, and take him into his arms when he saw this cute sad pouty face. He was also impressed by the Harry's acting skills as he hadn't believed he could be so good at lying with such a expressive face as his.

As for the guards they were both looking Harry with a torn expression, a dust of pink on their cheeks as they blushed at the hybrid's cuteness. They turned to one another and began to talk quickly in a low whisper to each other, sounding like they were debating on letting them pass or not. This is when for good measure, the feminine looking young man walked up closer to them.

"Please sir. It has been such a long time since I have last seen my uncle. I am very worried about him and I just want to know if he is taking care of himself correctly and if he eats properly." He said with shiny pleading look in his eyes, his hands joined together, while his head was slightly leaning on the side, making him look like a cute animal you just wanted to cuddle.

These words made the last remnants of hesitation that the two guards had crumble into pieces. Their cheeks turned a nice shade of red at the sight of what they thought was a young woman begging them.

"O-okay you can go in. But please try to warn in advance of your visit next time miss." One of the guards told him with a stutter.

"Thank you very much sir!" the young man exclaimed with a huge bright smile, charming the guards as they both looked at him with glazed eyes.

Ace and Harry then entered the tower, releasing a small sigh of relief after the doors had been closed behind them. The young hybrid then turned to the taller male with an inquisitive look.

"So where are we going now?" he asked.

"Well my best guess is that the files concerning pirates would be secured in remote room in underground. A bit like a basement where all the documents would be filed and organized." The freckled pirate replied, scratching the back of his head pensively.

"So we need to go downstairs." The green eyed young man said with a nod of understanding, "Let's find stairs then."

He then started to walk, his eyes scanning both side as he looked for stairs that led down, the older man following closely next to him, their arms brushing each other as they looked back and forth. They soon found a set of stairs that was going down and walked down to the lower levels of the building. Coming to a set of rooms, they each then tried different rooms before finding the one they were searching for. The room was full of furniture filled with files and the walls had bookshelves all along them that were also full files, inventory, account books and others.

"Okay let's get started. Let's look only in the files. I don't think the rest are relevant." Ace said as he walked determinedly to a pile of files and began to comb through them.

Harry quickly followed his example and picked his own pile of files in which he began to search for something about Blackbeard. After a moment of looking through files in which he wasn't finding anything, the petite male looked at the older man for a moment. The freckled man had his face scrunched up in a concentrated manner, as he was trying to find anything referring to Marshall D. Teach.

As he looked at his mate looking so serious, the young man couldn't help but remember with nostalgia the short time they had spent in Skypea. It had been so peaceful and relaxing there. It almost felt like it had just been a dream and that all those memories were just things that his mind had created. The cloud sea, the wonderful people, the delicious food, the amazing ruins, and the great history of the island, all of it had been amazing. But what had marked him the most had been the new turn that his relationship had taken. His lips tingled pleasingly just at the memory of the kiss they had exchanged on that night in the cloud sea.

Ever since that night, the freckled pirate had acted much more affectionate toward him, covering him with attentions of all sorts. He would either be kissing him sweetly on the top of his head or almost always having a skin contact with him of some sort, never missing an opportunity to be physical in his shows of affection. A smile stretched on the feminine looking hybrid's face as he thought about how they were now officially a couple. But strangely enough, though he felt very happy to now be with his mate, he didn't feel like he was really complete.

'Maybe it's just because we haven't consummated the bond yet.' He thought, his cheeks slightly pink at that thought.

Noticing that he wasn't hearing the rustle of paper coming from his partner anymore, Ace looked up to see Harry apparently lost in thought with a small blush on his face.

"What's the matter?" he asked as he stood up and went to the young hybrid, the latter jumping slightly as his question startled him.

"Nothing I was just thinking about our time in Skypea." The petite male replied with a darker blush as he avoided his mate's understanding eyes.

Smiling at the shy look on his face, the freckled pirate caressed his cheek lovingly before gently grasping his chin and softly putting his lips on his in a chaste kiss.

"It was a lot of fun." He then said in acknowledgment as he massaged the other's scalp and ran his fingers through the long soft black hair, "We will go there again one day."

"Promise?" the young man asked with hope gleaming in his eyes.

"I promise." He replied with a wink, getting hugged enthusiastically by the smaller man, "Once I am done with this mission I promise that we will take a few days for ourselves and go back there."

Suddenly they heard footsteps coming their way. It sounded like someone was walking down the stairs. Now very alert, the two men looked each other in slight panic as they tried to think of what they should do. Did they take the chance to be caught by staying into the room or were they trying to do a diversion so that they could escape. When Harry suddenly had an idea and looked up at Ace with a determined expression on his face.

"I'll create a diversion while you keep on searching. With some luck I might be able to make them go away." He told him, pecking him quickly on the lips before leaving the room without another word, not letting time for the older male to protest or say anything.

As the young hybrid walked out of the room he tried to find a good reason about why he would be there. But soon his thoughts were interrupted by the strange and chilling laugh coming from behind him.

"Fuffuffuffuffu. What do we have here?" the voice of a man approaching said.

The man was a very tall, large and muscular, short blond-haired man with a tanned peach complexion who was dressed in flamboyant clothes. He had a white shirt with red stripes, with a very low V-neck that showed part of his well-toned chest and abs, a green belt, and orange pants with white stripes. He also wore black dress shoes that were somewhat pointed. To top it all of he also had a feathered coat that was of flamingo pink, and sported a pair of sunglasses with a purplish tinted shades. He had an odd way of walking, a bow-legged waddle, as if he was almost stalking toward a very interesting prey.

His whole persona transpired confidence and power. It was almost nerve breaking to be near him as he had this calm demeanor to him and an unnerving grin plastered on his. His sunglasses were completely hiding his eyes, which made the petite male extremely uncomfortable, to not be able to see his whole face.

"What are you doing here little miss?" the strange and intimidating man asked him, pulling him out of his little trance and making him realize that he had to say something.

"I'm sorry sir. I am a new employee here. This is actually my first day and I have a hard time orientating myself." He said, bowing deeply in front of the man, "I was looking for the maintenance storeroom for cleaning products but I got lost and ended up in this corridor."

"Fuffuffuffuffu. Poor little lost doll." The man chuckled as he reached for the feminine looking young man's face to grab his chin a bit forcefully to raise his head slightly to look at his face, with a lecherous grin, "Aren't you quite the looker! You look like an angel. I bet you would sell for a lot."

"Pardon?" Harry asked confused, feeling fear creep into him as he didn't like the aura he could feel coming from the man, especially with the strong smell of pheromones escaping him in a suffocating, oppressing way.

"I'm sure one of the Tenryuubitos would love to have you in one of their harems." The man commented in a sickly sweet tone, leaning his face very near the young hybrid's.

But before the brightly colored man could say anything else, the voice of someone else appeared, making the man release his grip on the petite male's chin in surprise to turn toward the source of the voice.

"You should refrain from trying to abduct young women inside the headquarters of the Marine Doflamingo." the deep voice said, a warning edge could be heard in it as well as a definite threat.

There in front of them was a large blue whale shark looking like a man with a stocky build similar to a sumo wrestler. He had a face that looked at bit like those Japanese status that represented demons such as the onis. His yellow eyebrows and sideburns were distinctly shaped like those found on such demons, in addition to a bulb-like nose and an angular lower lip pointing upwards. He had a lightning shaped scar that could be seen from his left side burn and reached over his left eye. He also possessed two tusk-like conical lower fangs. The rest of his teeth from the upper and lower rows were pretty much the same, albeit much smaller. He also had a severe underbite, which made room for his huge fangs.

He also had long, two toned black hair, with two long stripes, colored gold, coming from the roots over his forehead and trailing down the back, a topknot, and tuft of hair on his chin with a slight green hue. His hands and feet were strangely webbed, like and amphibian, and his limbs were somewhat thin in comparison with his enormous girth. He had gills in between his shoulders and neck.

Under his pale red coat, he appeared to be wearing a coral colored traditional Japanese clothing. The kimono was covered all over with black and white square shaped patterns with the black and white layers alternating each other, beginning with the black outline from the edge and ending with a dark square at the middle of each and every one of them. He also tied this attire up with a purple obi like a ribbon around his waist and wore simple geta to his webbed feet. And finally a sun seemed to be tattooed on his chest.

All in all, this fish looking man of about 9,8 feet was extremely intimidating and Harry couldn't help but stare at him with awe and an intimidated expression on his face.

"Ah Jinbe! What a surprise to see you!" Doflamingo said with his disturbing smile, "It's a rare thing for you to come here. Did you have some business with the old man Sengoku?"

"The World Government might allow you to do your shady slave trade business on the side as the Tenryuubitos are some of your customers. But it doesn't change the fact that this activity is still illegal." The man called Jinbe replied with a glare toward the man even taller than him.

"My my! So scary… But don't worry Jinbe I wasn't going to do anything to this little cutie." The blond man told the fish like man before adding in a sickening lecherous voice with a widening grin, "I'm not really interested into little girls. I much prefer men. It turns me one when they mange overcome me in a fight and make me scream until my voice is raw."

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Jinbe asked with a disgusted expression on his face as he looked at the other men with wary eyes.

"Now that you mention it. I need to meet with some gentlemen from the upper hierarchy soon." The brightly colored man said in a nonchalant voice before turning and smiling at Harry, "Goodbye little doll. To the pleasure of seeing you another time."

With that said the rather disturbing man left. The encounter had quite shaken Harry as he had never met someone with such an overpowering and scary aura. He could only watch the man leave with his body feeling like it was frozen and couldn't move. It wasn't before the man was out of sight that the shark looking like man walked over to Harry.

"Are you alright young lady?" he asked him, reaching his arm toward him as if meaning to put his hand on shoulder in a comforting manner.

But this gesture startled the young hybrid whom backed off really quickly, looking at the strange looking man with a scared expression for a moment. A look of sad understanding appeared on the other man's face, before he retracted his arm to let it rest back against his side.

"You do not have to be afraid of me. I would never do something to you." He told him in a soft voice, sounding as if he was trying to tame a small afraid animal.

Suddenly realizing how he had interpreted the way he had reacted, the petite male's eyes widened and he quickly bowed deeply in apology.

"I'm sorry to have reacted that way. I am not afraid of you. It's just that you startled me." He explained before standing back up and looking at the man straight in the eyes as he said with a smile, "Thank you for having saved just before. I was really afraid that he would do something to me."

"You're welcome." He told him, visibly relaxing, adding with a frown, "It was really lucky that I was around to help you. That man is so twisted. Who knows what he would had done to you... By the way, what were you doing down here?"

Before Harry could actually answer to this, the door where all the files were opened, with Ace walking out of it.

"Jinbe! Long time no see!" he said with a big smile on his face as he greeted to the shark looking man.

"Ace-san! What are you doing here!?" the man exclaimed with a eyes wide as saucers and his mouth hanging in shock.

"I'm here to find information on Marshall D. Teach." The freckled pirate replied nonchalantly.

"What!?" he exclaimed looking lost for a second before shaking his head vigorously and looking at the other pirate with stern expression, "Even so, you shouldn't be here. This is the Marine's headquarters for Kami's sake!"

"Maa don't be like that!" he told him with a carefree grin, tapping the back of the large man in a friendly manner, "It's been such a long time since we have last seen each other! If we weren't in this place we would celebrate and have a drink together."

"I…you…" the other man stuttered at a loss for words at the carefree attitude of the young man.

"Thank you for saving Harry by the way." Ace suddenly said with a very serious and grave face, "If you hadn't arrived I would have intervened and ruined our infiltration."

"Huh? Who's Harry?" the shark like man asked.

The sound of a throat itself made him turn back to who he thought was a girl.

"I am Harry." The young hybrid replied, raising his hand while smiling shyly.

"That's a strange name for a girl." The clueless man commented with surprised expression.

"Well that is, because he's a guy." Ace said with a smirk, as he knew this would cause quite a fun reaction from the other.

"What!?" he exclaimed in shock, his mouth gaping like a fish out of water.

"Jinbe let me present you Harry Potter. He is from another world." The freckled pirate introduced, finding the situation rather humoristic, "Harry this is Jinbe a friend of mine and the captain of the Sun pirates from the Fishman Island."

'Fishman?' Harry thought surprised by the term, before realizing something in wonder and excitement, 'It must a race that is related to the merfolk. Wow… maybe mermaids and mermen exist as well in this world.'

"From another universe?" the man repeated, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise before looking at the petite male, "Does everyone in your world has wings like yours?"

"No I'm the only one." The brunette replied, explaining further that the other still had a lost expression on his face, "I am a hybrid, part human and part phoenix. Because of that some of the higher authorities of my world judged me to be a menace and tried to get rid of me but instead sent me to this world."

Ace walked up next to him and linked their fingers in support, earning him a thankful smile from his smaller mate, transferring all the affection they had for each other through their eyes. Noticing the small exchange, Jinbe looked intensely at the two, especially Ace, asking the question that was now occupying his mind.

"So what is your relationship exactly?"

Surprised, the two men looked at the fishman pirate before both blushing slightly, Ace looking slightly more embarrassed.

"He is my mate and I am his." The wavy brown haired man replied, avoiding the other man's eyes and scratching the back of his head with his free hand in a frustrated manner, "I don't really know how it works but it feels like my instincts are pulling me irreversibly toward him and same thing for him. It's like we have no saying in the matter. We were fated to each other from the start."

At these words, the young hybrid cast his head down, his long dark bangs hiding his eyes while he wiggled uncomfortably on the spot. Ever so perceptive, Jinbe saw that the careless words of the pirate had somewhat affected him.

"Is it a bad thing?" he asked with a slight frown, "Isn't it nice to know that you have someone who is meant for you?"

Confused by the words of the big fishman, Ace looked at him with a questioning gaze before turning his head to look at Harry when the other pirate signaled him with his chin toward him. When he looked at the petite male he instantly realized that his words had been interpreted in the wrong way.

"Oh Harry I didn't meant it like that!" he exclaimed afraid about how what he said had sounded, feeling guilt creep up inside at having possibly hurt his mate, "It's not a bad thing at all! It's just really frustrating to not have control over your life."

"You would have preferred to have been fated to someone else?" the young hybrid asked, his hair still hiding his face.

"Of course not! You are one of the most wonderful person I have ever met!" he protested louder than he had intended, blushing in embarrassment at having spouted such a cheesy thing to say.

This time the feminine looking young man raised his head and looked deep into the eyes of the taller man with an intense gaze. It was as if he was searching through his very soul, his own eyes full of uncertainty and doubt. He was trying to find a proof that he could allow himself to grasp that thread of hope and trust that he was wanted back by someone. He felt extremely fragile right now and he hated it. Though he wanted to always show a strong façade and show that he could be independent, the need to know that someone liked and needed him back was almost as essential as air right now. It was suffocating him and unveiling a very weak side of him, a side that depended on others to feel like he existed.

"You are the one I pity actually. After all you are stuck with me and I'm not really first prize material. You could have found much better than me." He added in a teasing tone and a wink, trying to lighten the mood.

This comment made him smile and like that he decided that he would allow himself the luxury of trusting him, handing over unknowingly to Ace his heart and soul to the latter.

"No I don't think I could." He replied, squeezing gently the larger hand with a smile, "I am the lucky one."

A throat clearing made itself known, making them realize that there was still another person with them.

"Sorry." They both mumbled embarrassed.

"It's okay. It's actually refreshing to see the love of the youth. It actually gives me hope for the future of the world. But right now is not the time to indulge in such things." Jinbe said looking slightly flustered by the affective display that he had just witnessed, before looking at the older of the two with a very serious face, "Ace, you know I am a Shichibukai and I cannot close my eyes forever to the fact that you are on enemy territory. For your sake and the of the old man I will not say anything about your presence here. But please finish what you have to here quickly and leave. It would be dramatic if you were captured here."

"Yeah, yeah don't worry Jinbe. We will try to be as fast as we can and leave before causing any trouble." he replied with a confident grin, which made the other look at him with a slight disbelieving look.

"Please do so." He told him before turning to Harry, "Please take care of Ace-san. Kami knows he needs to be watched over."

"Hey I'm not a child!" the latter protested with a small glare.

"It was nice meeting you Harry-kun." The other continued, ignoring the other pirate before turning around and walking away from them, adding one thing before disappearing from their sight, "See you another time."

Once the fishman was out of sight Harry turned to Ace.

"I didn't know you knew one of the Shichibukais." He said with an eyebrow raised in surprise.

"There are still a lot of thing you don't know about me." He told him, winking at him with roguish smirk on his face.

"That's not really fair. You know almost everything about me." He complained with a pout, not liking nor knowing everything.

"The key word being 'almost'." The freckled pirate remarked cheekily, making Harry blush slightly in shame as he underlined that fact, adding in a gentle and joking tone while running his fingers through the soft feathered black bangs of the petite male, "Don't worry. In time you will know every single thing about me. When that time comes we'll see if you are still attracted to me."

"Oh shut it." The young hybrid replied with an amused smile though he tried to act like he was mad at him, elbowing playfully the taller man, not looking at him while he said the following words in a rather shy manner, "I know that this is mostly the bond that is pulling us toward one another. But I also know that this attraction that I feel for you goes past the simple pull of the bond."

Ace didn't say anything back to that. Instead he just leaned down and softly kissed him on the top of his head. He didn't really know where this relationship was taking him but all he knew was that everything felt extremely right, now. He knew the bond had something to do with it. But he also felt that there was something beyond just that instinctual, animal attraction he had toward his mate. It was something deeper and he knew that the only thing he could do was to let it grow and mature, and see what it would become.

"I have finished going through the files but I have found nothing about Blackbeard." He suddenly said after a few seconds of silence, making the other look at him with an alert face.

"How is that possible? He is a pirate. Even if he is working with the Marine they should have a record about him." He said with a frown of incomprehension plastered on his face.

"Exactly, and there is only one other place where it could be." The freckled pirate replied with a mischievous smirk on his face, "But this is going to be extremely risky."

"Where is it?" he asked suspiciously with narrowed eyes as he didn't really like the current expression on the other's face.

"In the fleet admiral Sengoku's office." He announced, his smirk growing slightly at this.

At hearing this, the face of Harry took a deadpan expression as he found that this had bad idea written all over it. It felt like suicide to want to infiltrate the fleet admiral's office to search for a file about the man they were looking for. But they had no other choice either. It was their only chance to find more information about Marshall D. Teach and they couldn't pass on this opportunity. Despite knowing that, the young hybrid felt like it wouldn't go well. And how right he had been!

They had barely been starting searching in Sengoku's office that they heard someone approaching. Being the one who was the less efficient at searching through the files, as he knew almost nothing about Blackbeard or how he looked like, Harry was the one to go out of the room and do diversion once again. This time the person approaching revealed to be just a Petty Marine officer on some errand. Once again pretending to be a new employee, the young hybrid engaged in a conversation with him where he had to act flirty so that he didn't think of going into the room where Ace actually was trying to find information.

At first the diversion worked perfectly and the Marine officer completely fell under the charm of the feminine looking young man whom he was taking for a girl. But unfortunately the ruse didn't work very long as the freckled pirate, who had been unable to stand listening to Harry being hit on, burst out of the office he had been rummaging through, to punched really hard the oblivious Marine in the face, sending him flying into the wall. However the loud impact of the man's body with the wall alerted the Marines around and soon the two men are running away from a group of Marines who were chasing after them. The alarm having been activated, they knew it was only a matter of time before reinforcements came to try and capture the intruders.

Suddenly a group of Marines appeared in front of them from a corner and trapped the two men between them and the other group of Marines behind them. Having no other choice but to fight, they readied themselves, taking a defensive posture and looking around them with a wary expression as they waited for the first persons to come at them. Two brave Marines took their courage in both hands and charged at them in a battle cry, but before they could do anything Ace had repelled them with his fire, sending them flying away. An all battle then ensued and all the Marines charged at the two. At some point in the battle, Ace got worried for Harry so he looked around to see where he was and if he wasn't struggling.

To his amazement, what he saw made him very impressed with Harry's combat ability and powers. There, fighting four Marines at the same time, the young hybrid was dodging and attacking in a very graceful manner, looking almost as if it was very easy for him. His wings sent powerful gusts of winds to send his opponents flying away. He also seemed to use the wind to attack, making small blows of wind as sharp as blades or compressing the air to the maximum before quickly releasing it, creating small bombs that could give some good damage to a person.

With the two of them it wasn't long before they had managed to defeat the surrounding group of Marines. They quickly made a run for it, escaping the tower and Marineford without much more trouble. After getting back to the speedboat they quickly sped to the next island before any Marines could follow or track them down. Once arriving at the next island, they decided to take a break and went to a restaurant to have something to eat and drink.

Though he had already been yelled at while they were on the speedboat for his stupid and reckless reaction back at the base, Ace got another earful of scolding from Harry once again when they went on dry land. Now there was a tense silence between the two where the young hybrid was still rather mad at him and where the freckled pirate didn't really dare say anything in fear he would once again get yelled at.

So instead he slowly slid a file in front of the other, watching him carefully to assess his reaction. Slowly the eyes of the petite male looked at the document in front of him and scanned what was written on it. His eyes then widened suddenly in surprise to look up at , the other man with an astonished expression.

"You have found it." He said in a low voice, a hint of disbelief in it, "When?"

"Just a few minutes before I decided to leave the room." He told him, carefully avoiding the 'to punch that Marine scum' part.

"Oh." The feminine looking young man simply said in a low tone, in words before a disapproving frown appeared on his face as he looked sternly at the taller man, "It still doesn't excuse your childish reaction."

"I know." He replied sheepishly, scratching the back of his head in a nervous manner.

"I would have fully been able to deal with the situation and defend myself if it had gotten out of hand." He told him with a sulky pout.

"That you are." Ace said with a smile as he remembered how the young hybrid had kicked those Marines' butts, gently taking his hand in his while he asked in a hopeful tone of voice, "Forgive me?"

Harry looked at him in the eyes for a moment as he averted his eyes from his, a faint blush on his cheekbones.

"Alright I'll forgive you. But please remember that I am not a damsel in distress, and that it is not because I pretend to flirt with someone so that it can serve our purpose that you need to feel threatened." He mumbled, not being to resist really to the sweet treatment his hands were receiving as his mate was caressing them, his body relaxing under the ministration.

"Thank you." The freckled pirate said, leaning over and stealing a kiss from him, his smile broadening the look of both indignation and embarrassment of his younger mate before his took on a serious expression, "With these new information we are now getting extremely close to Blackbeard."

"That's great!" the young hybrid exclaimed excitedly with a smile.

"Which is why I'm going to take you to Whitebeard so that you can stay there until I have finished dealing with him." the other quickly continued before he could say anything else, explaining further when he saw incomprehension on the petite male's face as he began to open his mouth to protest, "It's going to be way too dangerous from now on and I want you to stay on the ship of the old man. Also that, you will have the opportunity of acquainting yourself with the rest of the crew and the old man himself."

"I could be useful to you. I could help you." The feminine looking young man tried to argue, not liking the idea of being separated from his mate.

"No. This is something I need to do by myself." He replied in a decisive tone of voice before looking at his mate with a pleading gaze where you could see a hint worry, "Plus, my mind would be more at peace if I knew that you were safe on the Whitebeard's ship. Please can you do this for me? I promise that after that we will stay together and I will never leave you behind wherever I go."

Harry looked intensely for a moment into the eyes of Ace. He was battling internally with himself between the need to always stay by the man's side, and the fact that he wanted to trust him and agree to stay behind and wait for him. It wasn't really that he didn't trust what he had told him, it was more about trusting him to come back to him uninjured and alive.

"Okay I'll stay on Whitebeard's ship and wait for you." He agreed reluctantly, looking at him sternly with an extremely serious gaze, "But you better come back to me alive and kicking."

"You got it." The taller man replied with a smile, caressing his cheek before kissing him softly.

_TBC_

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**So, what did you think of it? Anyway, next chapter is finally the introduction of Marco into the story. Look forward to it? ;-)**

**See ya!**


	6. A Second Mate

**Hey guys! Missed me? :P I hope you are all doing good. Me I'm doing well. Though I know I will do MUCH better once Christmas is here! :D**

**I received a guest review some time ago that was asking me to email that person when the new chapter was up and I don't mind to do that all. The only problem is that Fanfiction for some reason, which I guess is related to security, doesn't show the email address. As such I could not inform that person about the new chapter. So I am sorry to that person for having not sent her/him an email but I could not do so.**

**Anyway let's get on with the chapter shall we? :)**

**Enjoy!**

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Quote from Harry's research notebook about wind phoenixes:

Submissive wind phoenixes can have more than one mate. It is not uncommon for them to have at two destined mates or more.

Moreover, though rather rare, there are some times where the mate of a wind phoenix will be a fire phoenix. This causes no problem when it comes to their offspring as they will be born either as wind phoenixes or fire phoenixes.

**/****/**

Somewhere in the New World Moby Dick, Whitebeard's main flagship, was calmly floating on the sea while its crew seemed to be quite preoccupied.

"When do you think Ace is going to come back?" One of them asked as he was slumped on the ship's side rail, looking out at the horizon.

"I dunno." Another one who was sitting against the rail said with a shrug. "I guess he is going to come back when he finally finds Teach and kill him."

"Ah I don't like this!" Another that was walking up to them exclaimed. "Pops said that he had a bad feeling about this and it makes me even more uneasy. I hope nothing will happen to him."

Marco, who was watching the men talk from afar, turned toward his captain who was lazily sitting in his chair drinking sake, while his nurses kept fussing over him to try and make him stop drinking so much. He walked up to him and stood right next to him in a laid back manner even though inside he was as worried as the rest of his crewmates.

"I think everyone is getting rather restless about Ace. It's been a week since and we haven't received any news." He commented.

"That brat. Always causing concern for others." Whitebeard grunted, taking a swig off of his bottle before adding with a half amused half concerned smirk, "What a troublesome son."

"Maybe we should send someone to go look after him." The blond man tentatively proposed, glancing sideways at his captain to watch his reaction.

"You know as well as I do Marco that it would be an insult to Ace to send someone after him." The captain replied with a thoughtful frown "He would be mad at us for a long time and I wouldn't blame him. I wouldn't like it if someone was to interfere in my business."

But before Marco could say anything to that, a few men of the crew approached him.

"Ne Marco, do you know how Ace is doing?" one of them asked.

"How should I know?" the latter replied with an eyebrow raised in question.

"You are the closest one to him! As his best friend you should know where he is!" the man told him in a pestering voice.

"Has he already caught up to Teach?" another asked suddenly, stopping the man from saying anything else.

"Do you think he will come back soon?" the voice of a man from the crowd that had started forming around poor Marco.

He was now surrounded by his worried fellow crewmates, Whitebeard watching all of this happening with an amused smile on his face.

"Yeah we miss him!" another voice whined loudly.

The crowd began thickening around Marco to the point it was almost suffocating him slightly.

"Ah enough all of you! You all sound like a bunch of women by whining like this!" Marco exclaimed suddenly with an annoyed expression on his face, having had enough and pushing the pestering crowd away from him, "I don't know where Ace is right now but I can assure you that he will come back as soon as he is finished dealing with Teach. I am as worried as you guys but we just need to be patient and wait to hear from him"

As soon as he had said this, they all heard the voice of someone they all knew and had wanted to see.

"Aww Marco I didn't know you cared so much about me!" the voice of Ace suddenly exclaimed out of nowhere making the whole crew like a single body toward the place where the voice was from as they all looked for a moment flabbergasted the smirking young man that was standing in front of them.

"Ace!" they all exclaimed loudly, running happily toward him and warmly welcoming him back while slapping his back in a friendly manner.

The only two persons to not walk up to him had been Marco and Whitebeard. The first one was still looking at his best friend entrance with an astonished expression, while the other one was looking at his 'son' with an amused expression on his face.

As for Harry, the young hybrid was standing a little a little away from the cheering crowd that was celebrating Ace's return as he let them have their small reunion with their returning fellow crewmate. He was looking at them with a small smile on his face, seeing the obvious relief and joy on those men's face at seeing one of theirs back and safe.

Then suddenly his eyes met Whitebeard's inquisitive ones, the latter looking at him with a very curious and intense look. They stare at each other for a moment as if trying to get to know one another.

Meanwhile a light breeze went through, ruffling slightly Harry's hair and going toward Marco, whose nostrils flared suddenly as he caught a unique scent that lit his senses on fire and his instincts in frenzy. He then began to search for the source of this scent with slightly glazed eyes. His eyes soon landed on Harry himself and he looked at him with both a confused and longing expression on his face.

Then suddenly the voice of his captain pulled him out of his trance and he focused once again on Ace and the rest of the crew, trying not to look at the feminine looking man too much.

"Ace, who is this young lady you brought back with you?" the man with the big white mustache asked, his voice full of curiosity.

Looking like he had suddenly realized that he hadn't introduced the young hybrid yet, Ace excitedly went and grabbed Harry's hand and walked up with him to the old man.

"Everyone, pops, this is Harry and contrary to appearances he is a man." The freckled pirate presented with a grin on his face as he still held the feminine young man's hand in his, their fingers intertwined together.

"What!?" almost everyone exclaimed in surprise, looking with wide eyes at the now blushing embarrassedly petite male, who was squirming and almost trying to hide himself behind his mate at the attention that he was receiving right now from all those pirate.

"But why is he wearing a woman's kimono? It's confusing." One of the men commented with a frown on his face as he looked at the young hybrid.

At this remark Ace's face became annoyed as he glared slightly at the other crewmembers, making them flinch under his hard gaze.

"So what if he wants to wear feminine clothing? That doesn't make him less of a man. He can do whatever he wants." he replied, putting a protective arm around Harry's shoulders while looking at everyone daring them to say anything else.

Everyone stayed silent for a moment as they looked at how protective their second commander was of the petite male and how the two of them interacted with each other, glancing and smiling at each other when they thought nobody would notice. The relationship between those two was clear as water and it was obvious to everyone that they cared very much for each other. Then suddenly Whitebeard asked the question that everyone had on the tip of their tongue.

"So could you explain to us how the two of you met and the reason as to why you are now back on this ship?" the old man asked, the rest of the crew looking at Ace and the young hybrid with an intense gaze as they waited for the explanation.

The freckled pirate nodded in agreement and then started explaining to them everything that happened up until they arrived here, telling them how he had met Harry and their journey together. However he left the part where they both discovered that they were mates rather unclear as he judged that others didn't have to know everything, and that it was their private thing.

"So if I understand I now have a daughter-in -law?" Whitebeard asked with a big smile, before letting out a loud bark of laughter while the young hybrid's face become as red as a tomato at being called a 'daughter- in -law'.

The rest of the assembly soon followed suit to their captain's laughter and began laughing heartily as well, teasing and congratulating Ace while warmly welcoming the petite male into the family. Only one person was not partaking in the celebration as he looked at the couple, his body tense and a lost expression on his face.

At hearing that his best friend and the feminine looking young man were mates, Marco's heart broke slightly but got also even more confused as he had definitely smelt that the young hybrid was his destined mate. He had no idea how he should react or how to behave in this situation. His instincts were telling him that he was his mate but then how come he was already mated to Ace? And it was his best friend nonetheless. How could he do anything? But he unfortunately didn't have much more time to ponder further on the question as Ace began approaching closer with Harry, presenting formally to their captain before turning toward him.

"Harry this is the first division commander and my best friend Marco. Marco this is Harry Potter." Ace introduced them to each other with a happy grin.

Green jeweled eyes looked up at Marco whose breathe caught up in his breathe at seeing the person who was supposed to be his mate from up close. A sweet smile stretched on the petite male's face as he bowed politely in front of him before offering his hand to him.

"Nice to meet you. Ace has been speaking very highly of you." He said in a soft enchanting voice that had the blond man's insides melt.

"I'm sure it was overly exaggerated." He replied after having swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat, returning the smile as he accepted the stretched hand and shook it slowly.

Suddenly the feminine looking young man tensed slightly as a breeze went past them and caressed his face, to bring the scent of the older man to his nose. His eyes went wide for a split second before his eyes filled with astonishment and he looked at him in complete confusion. An uncertain expression went on Marco's face as he looked at Harry who was apparently struggling with the discovery that he apparently had another mate.

When he noticed that their handshake was lingering, a frown appeared on Ace's face as he looked at his mate and his best friend each looking at each other in an entranced manner. Feeling suspicion and overprotectiveness toward his mate rise in him, he stepped in between them placing himself in front of the feminine looking young man and facing the blond man with a defying glare, effectively breaking the contact of their hands. Everyone had felt the change of atmosphere in the air and they were now looking nervously at the three men, wondering what had made the freckled pirate react in such a way.

"What exactly is going on here?" he demanded, glancing back over his shoulder to look at Harry for a moment before focusing once again on Marco who still had a rather dazed look on his face.

For a moment neither of the two men seemed to be able say anything, looking like they were struggling with how to explain the situation. Ace was becoming more and more restless as his patience began to run thin. He had begun to feel more and more nervous about what was really happening between those two, and he was almost afraid of knowing. Then after a moment one of them finally spoke, uttering a word that Ace had a hard believing that he was hearing it.

"He is also my mate." Harry said in voice so low with disbelief that it could have been a whisper but it resonated loud into Ace's ears as he registered the information.

"What did he say?" one of the men that was in the back of the crowd asked.

"He said that Marco was also his mate." One that was closer to the three men and had heard everything repeated, loudly so that everyone heard.

"Eeehh!?" everyone exclaimed in shock before looking at Ace to see what his reaction to the news was.

The freckled pirate stood there as if he had been petrified, his face closed and his jaw slightly clenched. It seemed like the news had really startled him and had a hard time coming to terms with this. Inside he was basically a mess, as he had no idea how to react to this situation. As Whitebeard noticing that his 'son' was having an inner conflict he decided to intervene.

"Oi! Don't stand there like this with your jaws hanging! A member of our crew came back so let's organize a welcome back party!" he told his men with loud stern voice, jolting the others from their shock into action, leaving the three men alone.

As they are now just the three of them, Marco and Harry look at Ace with a concerned expression. They were all as lost as the other about this situation.

In a way Harry felt relieved, as he now understood what this empty feeling that he had felt up until had been. But also felt concerned as to how it would affect the recent and fragile relationship that he had begun to have with Ace.

The situation was very new for Marco who had a hard time understanding what was happening exactly. He felt his instincts screaming at him that he finally found his mate. But at the same time his heart was in a complete conflict between accepting this inevitable bond between him and the petite male, and the fact that the latter was already in a relationship with his best friend and comrade. Moreover he knew nothing about the young man.

After a few minutes the freckled finally managed to gather his wits back together and placed himself in such a way that had Harry and Marco in front of him. He looked at them without saying anything for a second.

"I will be honest with you, I have no idea how to react to this. It's rather shocking for me to learn that and I think I will need some time to come to terms with this." He told them with a grave face, his voice very serious, passing his hand through his hair, "So I think what I'm going to do is that I am going take my distance for tonight let the two of you get to know each other."

Before any of the two men could say anything the dark haired man turned around and quickly walked away, leaving them alone together. The young hybrid and the blond man looked at each other for a moment, a hesitant expression on their face as they didn't really know what to do or say right now.

"Well I guess we can go sit somewhere and better introduce ourselves to one another for a start." Marco proposed in with a slightly nervous chuckle as he scratched the back of his head, sending a friendly smile toward the petite male to try and ease the awkwardness that was floating in the air right now.

Harry responded to this by smiling a small smile back, his body relaxing slightly at the nice warm voice of the older man.

"That seems like a good plan." He agreed after giving a nod, his voice warming as he looked up at the other.

With that said they then began to walk to a corner of the ship where almost no one was and sat down comfortably before beginning to talk to each other, trying to learn as much as possible about the other.

They each told the other about their past, their dreams and goals. They discovered things that they had in common and things that they completely disagreed on. But most importantly they found out about one particularity that made them grow closer.

"So you are a wind phoenix hybrid?" the blond man asked with an awed tone of voice, looking at the petite male with wonder and excitement shining in his eyes, "That's amazing. I have actually eaten a logia devil fruit that allows me to turn into a fire phoenix!"

"Really?! Wow I didn't know that phoenixes were existing in this world as well!" the feminine young man exclaimed also excitedly, a big smile one his face as he felt rather happy to have found who was of the same type of species than him.

"Well they are mythical creatures actually that existed a long time ago. But yeah we do have them in this world." He replied, looking at the other with a warm smile, trying to resist the strong urge to run his hand long his soft looking cheek.

A few hours had gone through and the party had now begun. They were sitting in the middle of the party, having a drink while still talking like they had done for the last two to three hours. Everyone was enjoying themselves eating and drinking to their heart content. Only one person didn't seem to partake in the festivities and it was the object of this welcome back party.

Ace was sitting slightly apart from the rest of the men staying in his corner while his eyes were focused on Harry and Marco, watching them bond together from afar. He watched as the two grew closer together, the gap between their bodies having been reduced as they had unconsciously moved closer to the one another.

Though he was now calm and his mind had cleared up a bit, he still had a hard time digesting the fact that his best friend was also the mate of his own mate. How did this happen? Sure he had read into the book that Harry had given him that wind phoenixes could have more than one mate.

But how come if Marco was to be fated with his mate as well he had never felt pull toward him during all this time they had sailed together under Whitebeard? This was one of the things that the freckled pirate had a hard time understanding.

Moreover, a certain dilemma was going on in his mind. Though he knew that he couldn't be mad or even blame either of them, as they had no control over this kind of thing, it still bothered him in a way that they were also mates.

As Ace was mulling over those thoughts while watching the two get to know each other, he didn't notice his captain walk up to him until he felt the presence of someone sitting down next to him. He turned his head and realized whom it was, nodding toward him in acknowledgment before turning his gaze toward the other two once again.

"I don't really know anything about this fated and mate stuff, nor about love actually. But it seems like it is a very powerful thing." Whitebeard began to say as he too gazed at the bonding couple, "It looks like it's powerful enough that the people involved have an unwavering attraction and loyalty for one another."

Ace merely grunted in agreement, never taking his eyes off of the others, fear and hesitation clear in his eyes.

"But you know, it is not because this young man is also fated to Marco that he will stop loving you. He looks very torn about this situation and I think he is concerned about you. It is evident that he loves you." He continued, taking a large swig off of his sake bottle, "From what I have seen he is the kind that gives his all to someone and he is going to love you both equally as strong. Plus with this slim fragile figure of his I think it might be a good thing that you are two to take care of him. I feel like he can be a hassle."

At hearing this, the freckled pirate actually smiled while his captain laughed at his own comment.

"And I know that Marco must be pretty worried about you as well. He clearly feels bad towards you and I'm sure that he will do everything so that this relationship between you three works." Whitebeard added for good measure in a serious tone, "He is the caring type. He will do his best to make his best his mates comfortable and happy."

Ace didn't say anything for a moment, pondering on everything that the other had said. Then after a few minutes he turned to the older man and smile at him.

"Thanks pops." He said with a grateful tone of voice and a lighter expression on his face as if he actually felt some kind of relief.

"Anytime son." The old man replied, patting the young man's back in a fatherly way before standing up and joining the rest of his men and get some more sake.

As Whitebeard walked away, Ace turned his gaze back toward harry and Marco, the features of his having softened considerably after the old man's words. He was now much more relativizing the situation and though about the fact that maybe he could live with the fact that he had to share Harry with another person, especially if it was Marco. He would share his mate with no one else than his best friend. He trusted nobody more than him and he was completely confident that would be able to take care of their mate properly.

With this decision in mind, the freckled pirate stood up and walked up to the two of them. He wanted to tell them what he had decided, so that they knew he was okay with the situation and that he was accepting it. As he approached Harry and Marco noticed who noticed he was coming their way, stopped talking and turned to watch him arrive at their level.

"Hey." Harry said in a low timid voice, as he looked up at his mate with a concerned expression on his face, the situation still feeling really awkward for him.

"Hey." Ace replied in a low voice as well with a small soft smile before his face took on a serious expression as he said, "I just wanted to tell the both of you that I have come to terms with the situation we are in and I have decided to accept it. This is not something that can control and we could have avoided it. So we might as well make the most of it."

This statement with a stunned silence as the other two registered what they had just heard. Marco was the first one to snap out of his surprise.

"So you are okay with me being part of this relationship?" he asked with an almost disbelieving tone with yet a hopeful undertone.

"Yes." Ace answered simply, his face showing how serious about the whole thing.

The blond man stayed silent for a moment before a smile stretched onto his face. As for Harry, the young hybrid was looking at his mate with shiny eyes. He felt so happy that he had accepted the fact that Marco was his mate as well and that he was okay with it. Without warning he threw himself on Ace, making the freckled pirate stumble back a bit under the surprise hug attack but quickly stabilized himself and the petite male before hugging him back with all his might. Meanwhile Marco looked at the scene from his spot with still a smile on his face, thinking that he was really lucky to be with those two.

_TBC_

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**Here you go people. Thank you so much for the continuous great response that this fic is getting. Your love of this fic is greatly appreciated as it warms my heart and puts butterflies in my tummy. ^uu^**

**Since I don't think I will be able to upload another chapter before the New Year, let me wish you all awesome holidays. Merry Christmas to all those who are celebrating it and for those who don't…well I hope that you will enjoy the holidays if you have some. ;-)**


	7. Fireworks In The Air

**Hey guys! Happy New Year to you all! I hope all the health, happiness and success to you for this year 2013! ;)**

**So here is another chapter that I hope you will like. But before starting this new chapter I just would like to address a review that I had from someone whom I was unfortunately unable to reply anywhere else than here since it was a guest review.**

_**I am sorry if the word "mate" offends you but I have never meant to make it sound 'specist' as you said. One of the definitions of mate in the Collins dictionary is the fact that it is designating a marriage partner. In this story Ace, Harry and Marco are attracted toward each other because a bond is pulling them to one another. A bond is what you create with your partner when you are getting married. All in all I don't really see what is 'specist' about it. About taking out all the humanity out of them because of the use of this word, I am a firm believer that we can act as high and mighty as we want, we are nothing but slightly more intelligent and high tech animals. We all have the same basic needs and some of our reactions when there is a crisis and when we are in danger are very animal like.**_

_**This is just my opinion. People can agree or disagree with me like they can like or dislike this story. I am just defending my use of words as I don't want to get misunderstood on this kind of thing.**_

_**Anyway thank you to the person who sent me this critic, your use of words is very courteous and elegantly put. I think I have just one more thing to tell you (if you ever read this): I do not think of my stories or myself as perfect (far from it!). Perfection does not exist. There is always room for improvement and I think we will never attain the ultimate perfection as we all need a good dose of self-criticism. I appreciate all the nice reviews that people give to me and I am even more grateful for people who are criticizing it and telling what I did wrong in a constructive manner to help me improve myself.**_

**Sorry guys for this very long message.**

**I am now going to let you enjoy this new chapter. ^^**

**Enjoy!**

_Quote from Harry's research notebook about wind phoenixes:_

_There are two steps into fully bonding with a mate. The first one is simply to find the mate. It creates automatically a thin link between the two of them and makes them want to be constantly around. The last step to fully bond with the mate is the marking of the mate as theirs by the physical consuming of their bond. But before they can fulfill that part, the dominant mate has to court the sub for a certain amount of time, which depends according to the sub, before they can consume their bond. _

_The final bonding step can be divided into two stages: the first one being a simple kiss which means that the courted mate is accepting the courting mate's seduction through a kiss that they share for the first time. The second stage, which is the physical consummation, comes after the courting mate has shown that he can protect and care for his mate._

_**/****/**_

A week had now passed since the return of Ace on Whitebeard's ship with Harry by his side. Though the plan had been for the freckled pirate to go back after Blackbeard after having brought Harry to his captain and crewmates, he decided to postpone his pursuit to focus on the current situation he was now in. Figuring this whole thing between him, Harry and Marco was something quite hard to do and they all had barely begun coming to terms with all this.

Slowly but surely the trio was getting used to the situation and the idea of being together as mates. Ace was helping Marco accepting the fact that not only was he the young hybrid's mate and also make the process easier, but he also was helping him accept the fact that he had to share their mate between the two of them.

Even Ace, who had accepted the fact that he wasn't the only one to be the petite male's mate, he had needed some time to fully accept the whole situation. As for Harry, the feminine looking young man was more focused on bonding with the phoenix man than anything. Oh he knew of his mates' internal turmoil. But he also knew that there was nothing he could do except wait for them to fully come to terms with all this.

Right now the three men slept in separate beds in the crew's dormitory, though it wasn't rare to see the three of them staying up late talking and bonding even more with each other, especially now that Ace and Marco were now entering a more complicated relationship where they had to share someone between the two of them. As Marco had less of a hard time accepting this attraction that was pulling them toward Harry, he had much less of a struggle with bonding quickly with Harry whom he became closer and closer throughout the days.

One day, as the blond man was giving some orders to his men, he suddenly saw something fly above the ship, casting a quick shadow across ship which made the men look up to see what exactly it was. And how surprised were they all when they discovered that this shadow was the one of none other than Harry flying in the air with a blissful expression on his face. Marco watched with eyes shining in awe as his little love flew and twirled in the air gracefully. It was like watching a professional dancer do a ballet performance. His moves were fluid and done with so much ease that you would think he didn't use any strength at all.

A sudden thought went through his head and the first division commander quickly changed into his phoenix human hybrid form and soared into the skies toward the petite male with an excited smile on his face. Seeing him approach, Harry looked at him with a surprised, curious, but most of all awed expression on his face, as it was his first time seeing the man's Devil Fruit powers.

"I didn't know you could do a half transformation." He commented as the older man arrived at his height.

"It's rather useful when you want to also use your human form in battle." The latter said with a smile, adding with a wink, his tone slightly joking as he complimented him, "But I have to say that you fly in the air with such ease and your moves are so graceful that I'm beginning to feel jealous of you."

The face of the young hybrid took on a pink tint as he smiled back at the taller male, feeling embarrassed under the praise.

"It's nothing great really. I am a wind phoenix so I have an even stronger affinity with the sky." He replied mumbling slightly, still blushing, "Plus, even before I became a half wind phoenix I loved to fly and I would constantly find an opportunity to be in the air."

"Still, your flying skills are very impressive." Marco insisted while looking at the other with a tender gaze, smiling gently as he found the embarrassed and shy attitude of the feminine young man rather endearing.

An idea then suddenly crossed his mind and he looked at him with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

"But I'm pretty sure I am the fastest between the two of us." He told him with a challenging smirk plastered on his face.

That remark got Harry to look up at him with a playful light shining into his eyes as he grinned excitedly.

"Nah I don't think so. You are older and heavier than me there is no way you can best me on speed." He replied in a slight cheeky way.

"Should we do a race to see who is the fastest?" the older man proposed in a challenging way as his smirk changed into a full-blown grin full of excitement.

"You're on!" the petite male said with a grin.

As Ace was busy with repairing something at the back of the ship, he suddenly heard acclamations and excited shouts coming from the front. Curious about what was the reason for this ruckus, he went to the front of the ship to discover the most uncanny but also funny scene. There, in the middle of a shouting crowd who was cheering and congratulating him, stood a radiating with pride Harry, his chest puffed up, with a huffing and puffing Marco next to him, the latter looking quite sheepish but also disbelieving.

"What happened here?" the freckled pirate asked one of the men from the crowd, as he got closer.

"Marco and Harry raced against one another to know who could fly the fastest and Marco got crushed by the little guy." The man explained, looking at him with an excited smile.

"He was going so fast! I almost didn't see him going from one end to the other!" another one exclaimed in admiration.

"That kid really got skills!" someone else commented.

At hearing all those praises about Harry skills, Ace looked back at the young hybrid with a proud smile. It seemed that not only was he stealing both his and Marco's heart, but he was also stealing the heart of everyone on the ship, managing to integrate himself rather quickly and easily.

"You are a really impressive flyer." Marco said as he stood up and looked at the other with an awed expression on his face.

"Thanks. You are not bad yourself." The petite male replied with a cheeky grin.

"If I had known that one day I would meet someone that could rival me in the air I would have worked harder on my flying skills." The other commented with a chuckle, scratching the back of his head embarrassedly, "Now everyone is going to tease me to no end about it."

"We can train together if you want." The feminine looking young man proposed as he stretched himself leisurely, making his joints pop, "It would be nice to have someone to fly and train with. I would like to hone my flying skills. Plus we could share tips since we both are partly phoenixes."

"That would be nice." The devil fruit user said with a smile as he looked at the younger one with a fond gaze, marveling at how graceful and beautiful he found him whether it was on land or in the air, especially with his kimono on.

Before he could say anything else, Marco was slightly pushed on the side as the men began to get closer to Harry and surround him as they all wanted to congratulate and talk to him.

"You are really amazing!" one of them exclaimed as he got first the closest to the young hybrid, patting him roughly on the shoulder in a congralutory manner, "I never thought I would see the day when Marco get beaten in the air."

"Yeah! Especially not by someone as frail and skinny looking as you! Hahahaha!" another one added, his comment followed by a boisterous laugh from the whole crew.

"Huh thanks." The petite male replied awkwardly, a shy smile on his face as he looked around at all those faces who were looking at him with awe and respect.

"Seriously you are one hell of a guy!" someone said with a big smile, "It's like the saying says: clothes don't make the man!"

The more he was praised the more Harry began to feel embarrassed and slightly uncomfortable. He wasn't used to be receiving compliments like this. Sure people had praised him before when he had still been in his world. But it had always sounded as an evidence, like it was expected of him to be good and that anything below outstanding was not normal.

This time it felt real and genuine. They were praises without any expectations behind them. This was what made him feel awkward. He had never experienced this kind of compliment now that he thought about it. Moreover, despite all the times where he had been under the attention of everyone, he still couldn't get used to be the center of attention.

As time went along, the Whitebeard pirates began to treat more and more the young hybrid like a little brother, or sister when they wanted to tease him, whom they had to take care of and protect.

They would often invite him to come eat and drink with them, always fussing over him and ruffling his hair fondly, which made the Harry slightly annoyed and complain that he was not some kind of pet they could do anything with. He would always make the members of the crew laugh with his unintentional cute reactions.

Of course it would make him get flustered every time they would swoon and exclaim how cute he was at the way he behaved, and him grumbling about the fact that he was not cute. In some way he was considered like the mascot of the ship.

A few weeks went by, it was becoming more and more clear that Harry and Marco had grown considerably close and that the trio in general had now fully accepted the situation that they were in. Ace had no problem giving some alone time to his mate and best friend, and the blond man didn't feel a twinge of jealousy when Harry would go to the freckled pirate and be cuddly and affectionate with him.

Of course it bothered him slightly to see them so close and kissing each other but it was merely because he hadn't had the courage himself to kiss the young hybrid yet. It wasn't that he didn't want to. It was just that he wanted to wait for the perfect opportunity and not just dive for one out of the blue. First kisses were important and meaningful, it was going to be the way they were going to bond further and it needed to be special.

For now the idea of doing something physical with his little mate was not even crossing his mind and he was fine for the moment with just spending time with him. However an event, which he would have never anticipated, changed radically this state of contentment concerning the lack of need for physical contact with the feminine looking young man.

They were arriving at a summer island called the Natsu island, where they would stop for a few hours so that they could stock up again on food, drinks and others things, when Harry suddenly said something that made the two commanders to look at him with wide surprised eyes. The latter walked up to Ace and Marco, who were discussing who they should put in charge of what and how they should distribute the roles to the rest of the crew.

As they saw him approach, the two men stopped their discussion to look at their little mate with a curious expression on their face, wondering what he wanted. Then, without any sort of warning whatsoever, he said something that startled both of them.

"Let's go shopping." He told them with an excited gleam on his face, a face splitting childlike grin on his face as he almost jumped up and down where he was standing.

"Huh?" the other two asked at the same time in a dumbfounded way, not sure they had heard right.

"I want to go shopping! It's the first time I am going to a summer island. I'm sure they must have some really nice clothes!" the young hybrid said excitedly.

"Don't you already have clothes?" Ace asked dumbly as he had a hard time understanding why the younger man wanted to buy more clothes, and most of all why oh why he wanted them to come with him.

"I do but they are all kimonos and they are not very practical sometimes. Moreover, all of them are made for Autumn and Spring but I have nothing for hot weathers." The petite male replied with a pout.

"But why do we have to come?" Marco asked in an almost whining voice as the prospect of doing shopping had him shiver.

Though he was not as repelled by the idea of buying clothes as Ace was, spending his time in stuffy clothes shops to try and find clothes was still not something he enjoyed doing.

"Because I need your opinion, of course!" the young hybrid said, looking as if it was the most logical thing in the world and he couldn't understand why his mates looked so lost and reluctant.

Everyone on the ship was looking at the trio, wondering silently who would have the last word and win. A good part of the crew was actually trying to repress their laughter as it kept building up inside them. The sight of the two division commanders being ordered around by someone as small and frail looking as Harry was a rather funny scene for them and even Whitebeard had a hard time not laughing at what was going on in front of them.

After a moment of silence where the feminine looking young man began to realize that the two men were reluctant to agree, a pout appeared back on his face full force. He then gave them big shiny eyes while dancing about in a cute manner to try and make them give up.

"Come oonn!" he said in a whiny voice as he dragged his voice on the last word, "It will be fun!"

The other two men looked at each other hesitantly before making the mistake to look back at their mate. Harry was giving them right now the most irresistible sad puppy dog face they had ever seen. Marco was the first one to crack up.

"Alright we'll come with you." He said quickly as he didn't want to see that face anymore on the petite male if he didn't want his face to turn irreversibly as red as a tomato.

While Harry's whole face brightened at this answer and he became as excited as a kid who had been promised a huge ice cream, it was whole other story for Ace. The freckled pirate was right now looking at his best friend with a both astonished and horrified expression.

As he knew the young hybrid for a bit longer than his blond friend, he knew how excited and crazy he could get around clothes. It could sometimes take a whole day of going from one shop to another for him to be satisfied and this was not something that he enjoyed at all. This was how under the semi-stifled laughs of their comrades that Ace and Marco began to get dragged by an overly excited Harry out of the ship as soon as they were moored to the port.

"Take your time kids, maybe we'll stay here for the night and just leave tomorrow morning." Whitebeard told them loudly with a big grin as they were leaving, the two taller men of the three looking back at him with a betrayed expression on their face and accusation shining in their eyes while the rest of the crew burst out in laughter.

The feminine looking young man dragged the other two into the nearest town where his eyes began to scan both sides of the street to see if there was any shop that attracted his attention while the others followed behind him a bit reluctantly.

Suddenly, a shop with a brightly colored front with all sorts of different clothes in the window that went from funky to pretty basic attracted his eyes.

"Let's go there!" he suddenly said with a big smile, skipping toward the shop before either of the two men could even reply or say anything.

Sighing in unison, the two older men slowly walked after him into the shop, already dreading the time they were going to spend there. They were absolutely not looking forward to it.

However the experience into this shop ended up not being that much of a drag as they realized that there was something in this little shopping session that they found rather pleasant. As they entered the shop a friendly looking young woman greeted them.

She was dressed in a dark colored purple pair of jeans, and a loose fit long-sleeved, round collar, khaki colored T-shirt. Her hair was of the most original platinum blond with a bright blue strands in it, held up in a messy bun with a light straw gangster hat and a black ribbon around on top of her head. She also had a piercing on her bottom lip as well as on her nose.

Mesmerized by the look of the saleswoman, Harry kept staring at her in awe as he found her style really cool.

"Welcome to Takenoko shop. How may I help you today?" she greeted with a smile, walking up to them.

"I am looking for clothes in which I can move in easily and that are nice during hot sunny weathers like on this island." The young hybrid told her, beginning to talk with her about his tastes in terms of cuts and colors for his clothes.

As they were talking about what style of clothes the petite male would like and what would fit him best, Ace and Marco looked completely lost and slightly uncomfortable at all this talk about clothes and fabrics. They couldn't fathom why their little mate seemed so passionate about these kinds of things.

For them clothes was a way to not walk around naked and to keep warm nothing else. Though they liked to have their own unique style in terms of clothes, they only needed a very few pieces, buying more than what was necessary was something they couldn't understand.

As such, they just followed the petite male and the young woman around in the shop as the latters discussed and picked up clothes until it was a pile as high as them. When they were finished picking up clothes, the saleswoman led them to a big fitting room that was a bit on the side of the shop with a comfortable used leather couch in front of the fitting room.

Silently they sat on the couch while Harry went into the fitting room with all of his clothes. As they were waiting patiently, they were suddenly startled when their petite mate came out of the room a few minutes later with a pair of skinny khaki capri pants that showed his knees and smooth hairless calves along with a belt around his hips with a skull buckle and a white sleeveless shirt with a loose collar. That whole ensemble showed off his creamy shoulders and collarbone and fitted his body closely.

At this vision, both men's throat went dry as the outfit that the young hybrid had on him was form fitting and sexy. It was very hard for them not to gawk at him at how well the capri pants molded his lower body and how the loose shirt showed a bit of his skin.

"Do you like it?" he asked them, looking at them with expectant gaze on his face.

Taken aback by the fact that they were being asked their opinion, the two men didn't know what to say at first and continued to stare dumbly at the petite male for a moment. Then, after a few minutes after which the younger male seemed to become impatient, they finally snapped out of their trance.

"This is hum…this is nice." Marco said with a hesitant smile, not knowing what he should say exactly about the outfit.

"Maybe you should try another one." Ace proposed encouragingly as he wasn't sure he would be able to keep his self control very long, swallowing with difficulty.

"Okay." Harry said going back into the fitting room, looking a little bit unsettled as he had hoped for a bigger reaction from his mates, not noticing their internal agitation.

'How can someone have no hair not even on their legs?!' Ace discreetly whispered to Marco in a bewildered tone, as their little mate had closed the door of the fitting behind him.

The second outfit had them both have a coughing fit as they choked on the tea that had been brought to them by the saleswoman. There in front of them, stood the feminine looking young man clad in a pair of dark purple shorts with metal stud spikes and a partly ripped navy blue T-shirt, which didn't conceal much of his chest as there were holes in it. That whole ensemble in general was revealing a rather large amount of skin and showed off his smooth pale creamy thighs.

After having recovered from their coughing fit, they watched with dilated pupils as the young hybrid twirled around on himself to show the outfit from every angle.

"How is this one?" he asked with an eyebrow raised in question and hands on his hips.

"Well it is…it is certainly unique." Marco said, once again the first one to recover the use of speech, wriggling uncomfortably on his seat as if he was trying to find a comfortable sitting position.

As for Ace, who was also shifting on his seat with an uncomfortable expression on his face kept looking at the petite male, crossing and uncrossing his legs in a nervous way.

"You don't think that the shorts are maybe a bit too short and too tight?" the young hybrid asked with a slight frown, turning around and giving them a nice view of his backside before bending slightly over to try and pull on the hem of his shorts.

This was apparently the last straw for Ace as he quickly covered his nose to hide the sudden nosebleed and quickly stood up, leaving for the bathroom while excusing himself in a quick mumble. Marco managed to control himself but still had a hard time hiding the reaction of his body at the arousing sight.

"I think it might be wiser to try something else on." He proposed in a slightly tense voice, breathing deeply to calm himself down while his instincts were yelling at him to go to his mate and ravish him now and there.

The fashion show went on for another half hour, the young hybrid coming out of the fitting room with various outfits, some more daring than others and some more dangerous than others for his older mates. Fortunately for Ace the second outfit was the only time he had to abruptly leave. All of the other outfits were more daring in terms of style than in terms of sexiness and it took a while for Harry to finally make his choice and settle on an outfit that he liked.

In the end, after what seemed like an eternity for the two older men, a choice was finally made. The young hybrid settled for a pair of denim jeans with a loose green tank top with a small pocket on the left breast that went well with his hair and eyes. He bought along with that a pair of brown leather sandals. They went to a few other shops where Harry would sometimes buy one or two other pieces of clothing.

Once all of their shopping was done, the trio decided to stop at a nearby bar to take a much-needed drink, according to Ace and Marco after such an enduring day, before going back to the ship. As such, they entered a bar called the Hairy Lemon and went to sit in a side booth, Marco sitting with the groceries and Ace next to Harry.

They talked all together in a relaxed manner while enjoying their drink, joking, laughing and just having a good time. Then after a while they all felt the signs of hunger pull at their stomach as they realized that they were very hungry, and they decided to have something to eat there. As they began to eat a band of four men, one with a banjo, one at the piano, another with a violin and the last one with a guitar, walked up to the small stage that was on one side of the bar.

They then began to play a lively music, which brought the mood of the place up, some people singing along when they recognized a song that they knew. The trio enjoyed themselves as they cleaned their plate of any food and made all the food go down their throat with their drink. The atmosphere was nice, jovial, and time went by rather quickly.

They soon realized that it was getting rather late when Harry, who was very tired from his day, started to nod off and soon fell asleep on Ace's shoulder. The two older men threw a look at each other before both looking at their sleeping little mate.

"I think it's time to get back to the ship." The freckled pirate commented with a small smile as he watched the cute sleeping face of the young hybrid.

"You carry him and I'll take the bags." His blond friend told him, gathering the bags and taking them in hand before putting the money for the food and drinks on the table.

Standing up, Ace picked up Harry carefully in his arms, who was snuggling in his unconscious state to the other's chest. At seeing this action, the dark haired man smiled and tightened slightly his grip on the smaller body. He then followed the blond man out of the bar and they began walking back to the ship in a comfortable silence, both thinking that this day had been rather enjoyable after all.

A few days later, as their last few days stay on an island had been a rather long time ago, Whitebeard decided to grant his crew a little improvised 'holiday' by stopping at the Firework Island for a few days.

As they began to see from afar the island everyone began to get restless, as they were all excited at the prospect of spending a few days on this island. But there was one person who was not as hyper as the others and it was Ace. For the past week, the freckled pirate had noticed how Marco and Harry had grown extremely close and how they had arrived at a stage where, like he had felt himself with the young hybrid before, a slight tension to get closer physically had grown.

It was coming to a point that it would almost permeate the air around them. But apparently for a reason that completely evaded the second commander of Whitebeard's fleet, there seemed to be some kind of hesitation, shyness between the two and none of them had tried to initiate a kiss.

This situation exasperated Ace who had decided to intervene and push fate at making them finally finish the first stage of the physical bonding process. It took him a while to find a way that he could 'trick' his two mates into this and this is only when the old man told them about this improvised vacation that he finally had an idea.

As they were all getting out of the ship, and the men were going by groups in different directions to enjoy their free time as they wanted, the freckled pirate took his mates a bit away from the crowd and looked at the both of them.

"I have a few things that I really need to do so you can go ahead I'll join you later." He told them, making them both frown slightly at this.

"What is it that you have to do? We could go with you and then go have fun together." Harry asked, cocking his head on the side with curiosity shining in his green eyes.

"Don't spoil your day for me. I promise I'll be as quick as possible." He replied, ruffling his little mate's hair fondly and giving him a wink before turning to Marco, the latter looking at him with a slightly intrigued and suspicious expression on his face, "Take him to the Fun fai, I know he will love it. Plus I heard that there will be fireworks launched later this evening. I think they are happening on the big hill that's just behind the village. I will join you there."

At the mention of a Fun fair, the petite male's face brightened slightly in interest as he wondered if the Fun fairs in this world were similar to the ones in his world. He casted a last glance to his dark haired mate, silently telling him with his eyes to hurry back to them, before taking the hand of the blond man and pulling him toward the city center from where you could hear screams and laughs as well as the smell of cotton candy.

Watching them walk away, Ace waited for them quite a few feet away before he quickly took off his cowboy hat and took out of his side pouch a T-shirt that he had rolled up in it and put it on. He then took out from his other pouch a pair of thick-rimmed glasses that he put on and put makeup on to mask his freckles. He then began to follow them from afar, always making sure to keep a safe distance so that they did not notice him.

He followed them into the Fun fair, watching them as they would sometimes stop at a stand or buy a snack of a drink. Under his disguise, he watched as Marco won a big teddy bear and gave it to the blushing young hybrid who accepted the gift shyly, giving him a big bright smile. Their afternoon went on like this and soon it was time to go up the hill to have a seat and watch the fireworks.

As they walked up the hill, Ace saw both Harry and Marco look around as if searching for him. Hiding himself behind a group of people who were also walking up the hill, the freckled pirate waited for the two men to stop looking for him.

When they were up the hill, he followed the pair to a spot where there was the forest just behind them. He smirked at this choice of sitting spot. It was very like Marco to go settle somewhere where if they had to escape quickly for a reason such as the arrival of marines and he could do nothing else but applaud this choice, as it was also convenient for him in this situation.

As such, he walked a bit in the forest to climb up one that wasn't too far from them. He then settled comfortably in it to observe them properly. But as he was climbing the tree, a branch that he had misjudged as strong cracked under his weight and he froze for a moment, praying that he hadn't been noticed because of this.

As they were settling down on the thick grass, Harry's head suddenly snapped toward the woods behind them, all of his senses alert for a few seconds.

"Did you hear that noise?" he asked Marco, who looked in the same direction that he was looking at.

"I did. It must be just some animal walking around." The blond man said, squinting his eyes at the darkness to try and see what had made this sound before giving up and turning to the petite male, noticing the slight shiver that went through the smaller body, "Are you cold?"

"A bit." The young hybrid replied, rubbing his arms quickly to try and quick warm against the cool night air.

"Here, it will keep you warm." The older man told him as he put on his shoulders the jacket he had carried with him during the day.

"Thank you." The petite male said, feeling slightly startled at first at the gesture before smiling gratefully at his mate.

"You're welcome." The other replied extending his arms and caressing the cheek of the feminine looking young man before he could stop himself or even realize what he was exactly doing.

When he realized what he was doing, Marco felt his cheeks warm up and was about to pull his hand back when he locked eyes with Harry. In his eyes he saw desire and something that looked like desperation. His eyes then trailed down to those rosy lips, watching with rapt attention as the young hybrid wetted them with his tongue in a nervous gesture.

Slowly, his mind feeling muddled in his entranced state, he felt his upper body lean toward the other, his lips getting nearer and nearer to the petite male ones.

It was as if time had stopped and they were the only two persons on earth. Nothing else existed apart from the two of them. Nothing mattered but the other. When their lips finally met one another, they both let out a sigh of complete bliss, as if they had been craving to do it and it had been finally fulfilled.

The petite male quickly wound up his arms around the taller man's neck and slid closer to him until their chest almost touched. As for Marco, he put his arms around his hips and kept a tight grip on him as if to never let go.

Their lips moved in synch, massaging one another in a sensual way. The blond man then suddenly licked his little mate's lips in a silent request for entrance, which was granted immediately. They then began teasing each other, their tongue in a playful fight and discovering every corner of the other's mouth.

They could have kissed like for hours but they were soon brought back to reality as the sound of the first firework being launched startled them and made them break their kiss. First startled it took them a few seconds to remember where they were and what was happening. Then they began to chuckle in remembrance and looked at each other with an amused expression, linking hands and entwining their fingers together before they turned to enjoy the show.

Not too far, sitting in his tree, Ace had assisted to the whole scene and had now a satisfied smile on his face, as he was happy that his two mates had finally kissed. He then decided that it was time for him to appear back to them and jumped down from his tree.

Making a little detour so that they would suspect anything, he walked up to them after a few minutes.

"Sorry for coming so late. It took me longer to do what I had to do." He told them, putting on an apologetic expression on his face, "Did you have good day?"

"We did." Harry said with a big smile as the freckled pirate went to sit next to him, putting him in between the two older men, relishing into their presence and body heat.

"What did you guys do?" the oh-so-ever-witty dark haired man asked, feigning genuine curiosity.

At this question both of the other two's face became slightly red and they began to mumble answers incomprehensibly.

"We went to the amusement park and played games." Marco mumbled quickly, which was actually the only thing decipherable thing from all the jumble of words he and Harry mumbled.

Greatly amused by this reaction, Ace couldn't help but smirk at this. He kept on looking at them as they were becoming more and more embarrassed, thinking that he wouldn't exchange those two for anyone else in the whole world.

TBC

**Here you go. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Continue to show your love and support for this story with your awesome reviews. ^^**

**I am very sorry for the updating pace of this story but I have to say that this school year is very hectic and I have tons of things to do. **

**Plus, right now I am working on preparing and filling in application forms for potential universities in South Korea I could go to for my Master's degree. So yeah…busy busy like a little bee. :D**

**Anyway I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**See you next time! ^^**


	8. Foxy New Companions

**Hey everyone! Missed me? Jk :D Anyway here is a new chapter, I hope you will like it. ^^**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Everything was going well for Harry, Ace and Marco, the trio becoming very close together and spending a lot of time, every single day with each other. It seemed as if they couldn't spend even half a day without seeing or having some sort of physical contact with one another. Marco and Ace would often steal a kiss from their smaller mate or take him in their arms and cuddle with him.

As they grew closer, the need to be closer physically began to grow stronger as well. But as a result a problem began to arise to which the two older men still hadn't find an answer. How were the sleeping arrangements going to be? Were they all going to sleep in the same bed? Or was Harry going to sleep with Ace one night and then with Marco the other?

They didn't know if they would feel comfortable sharing a bed together, even if their little mate was between them. Moreover, even if they were comfortable with sleeping in the same bed as the other, how would they do when the time came that they began to be even more physical with the young hybrid? All those questions kept swirling inside their mind repetitively as they tried to find a solution to this dilemma that they had.

This issue appeared after Harry whined a few days ago about sleeping alone and said he wanted to sleep in the same bed as his mates. After that the two older males had argued with each other and wracked their brains for hours to try and figure out a way to do it that would satisfy them both.

However, even after days of arguing and deep thinking they still couldn't come up to a suitable solution. Getting annoyed by the situation and beginning to fell a bit impatient, Harry decided to take the matter into his own hands as his mates seemed to be incapable of doing so.

This is how one day the petite male went up personally to Whitebeard under the astonished gaze of the whole crew who couldn't believe the guts that he had to do this. Flabbergasted, they watched as he approached their captain with a determined and very serious face.

"I would like to have a bedroom for myself so that I can be alone with my mates whenever I want please." He then requested in a slightly demanding voice, which made people look at him like he was crazy to talk like that to the old man.

Edward Newgate looked at him for a moment with an unreadable expression as Harry looked right back at him with an unwavering gaze. The silence was making everyone feel antsy as they waited to hear the answer of their captain. Then they began to see a smile hitch up on the old man's face before he exploded in a full-blown laughter without any warning, making everyone looking at him with a taken aback expression.

"No wonder they look so tame around you. You're really ballsy." He commented, as his laughter died down after a minute, looking down at the young hybrid that was standing defiantly in front of him with an amused smirk, "Very well. There is a room that we don't use you can have it. We should have some spare mattresses in one of the storage rooms also."

Everyone was surprised at how easily the old man had accepted and were even more flabbergasted that he hadn't minded the brash attitude of the petite male. Was he getting softer in his old age? The order that he barked at them to go back to work a few seconds later proved them that it wasn't the case.

But then what was it? Could it be that their captain couldn't resist to the cuteness of the feminine looking young man either? The thought that Whitebeard, the man who was the most powerful pirate in the world and whom they looked at like their father, was helpless in front of Harry was quite a funny idea.

This is how, with the blessing of Whitebeard, Harry began to install and put everything he wanted in his new official bedroom, humming happily to himself as he was doing so. Once the room was done and he was satisfied with it, he went to see his mates. The latters had just learned about what had transpired between him and the old man, as they had been busy on another part of the ship at that moment.

To say that they were surprised at their petite mate's actions was only one of the numerous emotions they felt at this moment. On one hand they felt ecstatic to have a room they could be with the young hybrid without anyone else around them. But on the other hand, the dilemma about the sleeping arrangements was still there.

After much deliberation, and with the help of Harry who accepted to not have both of his mates sleep with him in bed at the same time, they came to the agreement that they would do a rotation. Ace would be the one sleeping with Harry and then the next day it would be Marco's turn and so on. Though that meant that two men wouldn't be able to be each night with the young hybrid, it was the best consensus they had been able to come up with.

This is how Ace and Marco started alternatively sharing a bed with the young hybrid, having a great deal of fun kissing and cuddling to one another. Thanks to that, they became closer and closer physically and their attraction for the other grew with it. As days went by they became more physical with each other. The petite male began to ask for more and more attention while the two older men grew quite possessive and were almost glued to him, covering him with attention and never letting him alone.

It was becoming more and more clear that they were evolving to the next and final stage of the bonding and the two taller males were becoming a bit antsy about it. They had felt that the bond was very close to be finalized and they knew what it meant. They would have to get intimate with the feminine looking young man.

This was something in itself that they were greatly anticipating, as that meant that the bond would be complete, and they would finally be with their mate in the most intimate way possible. But there was also one thing that made them a bit nervous and it was: who would be the first one to be with Harry?

If the first one were chosen according to his age, then Marco would be the first one to be with Harry as he is the oldest. However if you looked by the time of who had started bonding with the phoenix hybrid first, then it would logically be Ace.

An argument then began between the two where they would try to make the other see why they each should be the first. Of course this particular argument was kept hidden from the object of the argument, as they knew that he would yell them at and maybe even ban them from sleeping in bed with him. And believe me, you did not want to face the wrath of an angry wind phoenix hybrid.

They knew that it must have looked superficial, selfish and utterly absurd from the outside, but it was a real issue for them. Though they knew that it would all come down to Harry's decision but they couldn't help arguing between them about it. It was a fight between two stubborn and slightly competitive male. It was almost like two wolves trying to decide on who was the alpha male.

Meanwhile, while his two mates were fighting between each other to know who would be with him first, he was continuing to go about as he had done ever since he had arrived on this ship.

Right now he was sitting at the desk that he had set up in his bedroom and staring intently a blank page that was in front of him, a quill and a little jar of ink not far from it. He had decided to write to Inari but didn't know what to say. It wasn't that he had nothing to say. On the contrary! He had so many things that he didn't know where to begin.

It had been a long since he had last written to Inari. In fact, the last time he had written to her he hadn't even arrived on Whitebeard's ship yet. As such, he hadn't told her about Marco yet. He knew there was very little chance that she would criticize him about it. In fact, she might find it very cool that he has two mates and tease him to death about it. Yes, she will surely tell him to keep an eye on them and to not hesitate to boss them around.

At that last thought the young hybrid smiled slightly as he imagined how the female doctor would behave if she were in front of his mates. He was sure she would scare them out of their skin and make them feel very uncomfortable.

He really missed her sometimes, as she had been the first person he had met in this world. She had helped and taught him so much, he would be forever grateful to her.

With a soft smile on his face, Harry focused back on the white piece of paper. He grabbed the quill and dipped the tip in the ink before starting to write his letter.

* * *

_Hello Inari_

_How are you doing? How are the people of the village doing?_

_It's been a while so I am sending you this letter to tell you about what happened since the last time._

_It's been so hectic for the last few weeks I don't even know where to really start. But I think I will begin by the biggest news. I am now on Whitebeard's ship and I have a second mate._

_Funny enough the day I arrived on the ship was the day I met my second mate. He is actually the first commander of Whitebeard's fleet and Ace's best friend. You cannot even imagine how things were awkward at first! I really thought at first that Ace wouldn't be able to accept it. But he really made me so happy when he accepted it and helped us bond together. He is such a great man. I'm very happy that he is one of my mates._

_Now I'm sure that you must die from curiosity to know how Marco is so I am going to describe him to you. He is rather tall, as tall as Ace actually. He has blond hair with blue eyes and a fair skin. He is really nice and gentle. It's almost hard to believe that he is a pirate. He is really a sweetheart with me. I can't believe how lucky I am to be with two mates like them. Sometimes I feel like they suffocate under the attention but at the same time it feels really good._

_I'm sorry I'm rambling on and on like that about my mates… Anyway, as you can see I am doing very well. The Whitebeard crew is very nice and warm. It feels like a big family._

_I hope you are doing well. Don't forget to feed yourself properly! I know how you are._

_Love_

_Harry_

* * *

A few days later Harry received a letter with a response from her. The young hybrid was actually helping at cleaning the ship's deck when the postal seabird arrived to deliver him a letter. Knowing that it could only be Inari he opened it eagerly, almost ripping the envelope in half. As soon as the letter was out, he unfolded it and started reading with a big smile on his face.

But as he began to read through, his smile lessened and a mortified look started to appear on his face more and more, pink dusting his cheeks. As they walked by, Marco and Ace noticed the weird look on their little mate's face. Curious and concerned about what could be causing this expression to be on his face, they walked up to him to know what was happening.

"Is everything okay love?" Marco asked, his brow slightly creased in concern as he looked at the feminine looking young man.

For some time now both were using names of endearment for their mate. The blond man had taken the habit to calling the smaller male 'love' while the freckled pirate was now calling him 'baby'.

At his mate's question, Harry raised his head and looked at them both for a second before red spread all over his cheeks. He then shoved the letter into Ace's chest and turned around, walking away at a fast pace while muttering about crazy perverted women doctors.

Even curious and concerned after seeing the reaction of their mate, the two men looked at the letter to know what had put him in such a state. What they read made their whole face go red and their eyes widen, understanding why the content had made the young hybrid slightly uncomfortable.

* * *

_Harry!_

_Indeed it's been a really long time! I really missed your letters!_

_You were so silent for a while that I thought that you might have been too busy getting dirty with the big goof. But now I learn that you have another mate?!_

_Whoa I can't believe how lucky you are! And from what I understand he is very handsome as well! So that means that you now have two handsome guys just for you?! I am seriously jealous of you you know. With two mates you are going to double the fun! ;-D_

_Oh well, don't forget to send me a picture or something of your second mate. I want to put it next to the photo I had taken of Ace one day when he wasn't looking. I'm counting on you!_

_Also, can you send me a picture or two of all you guys together? I'm sure you look freaking hot all together! Ah if I had been there with you I would totally taken lots of pictures! I'm sure they would sell so well. Every girl would be thrilled to have one! Oh I know! Why don't you film the three of you together? I bet we could get a lot of money from the tapes! Of course I would share the benefits with you since you would be the stars of those tapes._

_Anyway think about it Harry-dear! You would make onee-san very happy._

_Take care!_

_Xx_

_Inari_

* * *

After having read that the two older men decided that if they ever had to meet Inari they would keep as much distance with her as possible and be extremely wary.

Time passed by and everything was going well for the Whitebeard pirates, life was punctuated by stops at islands to restock the ship and sometimes one-sided battles with small-fry Marine ships. The unique love relationship between two of their commanders and Harry did not bother anyone on board and they had all accepted the young hybrid very quickly and openly.

He was now very well integrated into the crew and would help on the ship by doing the cooking and helping the ship doctor whenever someone had injured himself or was sick.

The feminine looking young man had found his little routine and he felt really happy there with his mates and the crew. Though he had had a hard time getting used to the rough and boisterous characters of the crewmembers, he had gradually grown to appreciate and like them, relaxing and having fun with them.

One day, as they stopped at an island to restock on food, Harry decided he wanted to the market. This island was a small trading island that was very famous for its market, rumors saying that you could find everything and anything that you ever dreamed of in those open-air markets.

Though they had been a bit reluctant to go and walk in a street market, Marco and Ace still followed the petite male, as they didn't want to let him go alone. So the triowent into the street market, stopping here and there when something caught Harry's eyes while eating a brioche-like big pork dumpling.

Everything was so colorful and wonderful that it made his mind swirl as he kept whipping his head left and right as he tried to see everything at the same time. There were so many different objects and clothes that he had never seen before. Some were nice some were less attractive but everything was fascinating. They had now left the food part of the market for a few minutes but it seemed like the market was still going on for quite a bit, trinkets and ornaments displayed on every side.

Suddenly they heard shouts and the sound of things getting knocked over and falling.

"Come back here you two rascals!" one man was yelling, looking like he was running after something, the strange thing being that he was looking at the ground, "Somebody catch those damn fennecs!"

Dumbfounded and quite curious about what exactly was going on, the three men stopped walking and watched the huffing puffing slightly overweight looking man as he ran after something that they still hadn't seen yet. A few seconds later it seemed like one of the merchants had managed to catch whatever the man had been chasing after.

This is when they finally saw what that entire ruckus had been about. In the arms of the man who had caught them were two fennec foxes. They had a beautiful sandy fur with coppery highlights. Right now they were struggling in the arms of the man who had caught while he was walking to the other man to give them to him, while trying to hold the foxes that almost freed themselves .

The man who had been running after them grabbed them roughly by the scruff as soon as he got near them. Mumblinking a thanks the other merchant who had caught them. He then left while muttering angrily at the two foxes who looked anything but contrited to make another break.

As the man was going back to his stand where a lot of other animals in cages were, Harry couldn't divert his eyes from the two fence foxes . As soon as he had seen them it had made like a click in his mind. He had fallen in love with those little balls of fur. And now the want to have them as his familiars had become overwhelming.

This is how he began to walk toward the animal stand of the fat merchant with the intention that he wouldn't leave this market without having bought the two prankster foxes. When they saw how their mate was directing himself toward where the fennecs were, Ace and Marco exchanged a looked, feeling trouble on the horizon.

When they arrived at the stand, the merchant was closing the door of the cage while still muttering curses at the two foxes, who looked like they were replying with as much venom, as they kept shrieking at him while trying to escape the cage. The sound of Harry clearing his throat to attract his attention made the big man turn around before quickly plastering a big smile on his face as he realized he had customers.

"Good morning dear sirs and miss. How can I help you today?" he asked in a sugary tone.

"How much for those two fennecs?" the young hybrid asked straightforwardly as he looked at the man in front of him straight in the eyes with a serious expression.

Slightly taken aback by his confident tone, the merchant looked confused for a moment before glancing back as he understood the young 'miss' wanted the fennec foxes. The two foxes had grown quiet and were now looking at them as if they knew what was happening and were curious of how it would unfold.

"I'm afraid they would not make good pets miss. I have some Persian cats over there that are very tamed and would be really companions to have." He proposed, trying to incite the feminine looking young man with the said animals.

"I am only interested into those two foxes. I wish to buy them both. I don't care if they are tamed or not." The petite male replied stubbornly.

At a loss for words, the merchant looked at Marco and Ace as if to ask for some sort of help or confirmation. The two male looked like they seriously didn't know what to do. It is Ace who took the plunge.

"Harry you can't buy pets, they would not get accustomed to the life onboard of a ship. It would be messy and difficult to take care of them." He told his mate in a soft but firm tone.

"Don't worry I'll take care of them. I know I can make this work. They just some training that's all." The young hybrid countered as he looked at his mate, his eyes shining and a little pout on his face.

"Yes I don't doubt that you would take care of them one minute but…" the freckled pirate tried to argue but got cut as the other talked.

"You are both always so busy with managing the crew and working on things. All I want is someone to keep me company and with whom I could stay entertained while you are busy." He said, tilting his head slightly to the side as he looked at him with an irresistibly adorable pleading expression on his face.

Ace felt all his prepared arguments shatter at seeing Harry giving him the look that he had seen him use on others before to get what he wanted. It was a unfair weapon that the young hybrid seemed to enjoy using as he pleased for thing, and with this the freckled pirate knew he was completely powerless against it.

Turning his head to look at Marco, Ace silently asked his blond companion for some help but the latter looked back at him with a helpless look on his face. It looked like he was as powerless as him right now in front of their mate's adorably cute face. With a sigh, the freckled pirate then turned his face to look at merchant, a resigned expression on his face as if he had given up.

"How much for the foxes?" he asked him, making the young hybrid have a bright smile appear on his face as he looked happily at his mate, while the merchant looked at him like he was crazy but complied with his request.

"They are 1000 beri each." He said.

"That much?!" the dark haired man exclaimed with wide eyes before frowning at the big merchant with a severe expression on his face, "You said they were not tamed so you should do a discount."

"I can't do that! Do you know how much it cost me to buy them? These are rare animals to get." The man protested.

While his mates were haggling over the price with the merchant, Harry walked up to the cage where the two fennecs were. The two were actually looking at him intently, their ears pointing up forward and their little front paws resting against the bars, elevating the front part of their bodies. Hesitantly and very so slowly, he extended his hand until his fingers were slightly in between the bars. The two sandy foxes sniffed at the exposed digits before rubbing their head against them while purring.

Encouraged by this reaction, the petite male boldly opened the door of the cage so that he could pet them properly. Suddenly the merchant glanced toward him and realized what he was doing.

"No don't!..." he began to exclaim loudly but it was already too late as the cage's door was already opened, making both him and the two other men really anxious of what they thought was going to happen.

However, to their surprise, the two fennec foxes did not try escape at all. Instead, they jumped into the feminine looking young man's lap while making happy yaps. One then climbed up on his shoulder and began licking his cheek affectionately while the other one rubbed himself against his chest while purring loudly, making Harry giggle at the affection that they were showing him.

At seeing this, the merchant's jaw dropped in shock while his widened in front of the scene that he was witnessing. Ace and Marco were actually the first ones to come out of their dumbfounded state and both looked at the merchant with smirk as an idea appeared in their mind.

"See. He is the only one to whom those fennecs react like that. And don't try to get around us. You will never find someone to buy them as they are uncontrollable with anyone else but us. So give us a discount along with all the necessary items to take care of them." Ace told him with an almost evil grin, flaring that he might be able to get a good bargain.

After some more haggling and debating, they finally came to an agreement with the merchant and bought the foxes along with everything they needed for them.

They were now walking back to the ship with everything, the two older men carrying the foxes' bed, their toys, food, etc. while Harry was merely walking next to them, with a bag of treats in his hand and the two fennecs on his shoulders. As they went back on board, all the men who were already back noticed immediately the new addition to the group and gathered around them to look at the two creatures more closely.

Though at first the two foxes looked a little wary off this whole crowd that was looking at them curiously and acting all friendly with their new owner. They soon relaxed and actually acted friendly with the crewmembers who laughed at their hyper and mischievous attitude.

After talking for some time with the men and having a conversation about the two new foxy additions to the crew, Harry began to feel slightly tired and decided to go take a nap before having to take care of dinner for everyone. As such, he and his mates walked into his bedroom, his fennecs still on his shoulders. They put down all of the purchases they had made and installed the two cushion beds for the two furry creatures along with the toys in a basket and placing the food for them in a cupboard.

"I'll just rest for half and hour and then I'll go to the kitchen." The young hybrid told his mates as he put down the two foxes before walking up to his bed.

"Do you want one of us to take a nap with you?" Ace asked, hiding the hopeful tone away from his voice, wanting to feel his petite mate's warmth against him after such an intense day.

"Humm yeah. You can both come." The latter said in a sleepy voice as he crawled up on the bed and lied on his stomach as he closed his eyes, his mind all ready to slip into darkness.

At hearing this, the two other men looked at each other with a questioning gaze in both of their eyes, having a silent debate between themselves. After a moment they nodded at each other, having come to a decision. After all it was just a nap. They would just be each on one side of the young man's side.

But as they began walking up to the bed to join Harry on it, they were suddenly stopped in their tracks as the two fennec foxes jumped on the bed in front of them and snarled at them. It was as if they were warning them to not come any closer. Taken aback and slightly angry at such an attitude from those two fur balls, the two men glared at them while trying to know what they should do.

Harry who had heard the snarls had sat up and looked at what was going on.

"They must not be adapted to their new environment yet." He commented thoughtfully.

"Maybe but why are they acting aggressive toward us?" Marco replied with a frown on his face.

"Maybe they haven't accepted you yet." The young hybrid said with a soft voice, feeling sorry for his mates, "You might need to spend some time with them in order to bond. But I guess for now you will have to wait for them to be accustomed to their new environment before trying to bond with them."

"You mean that right now we can't take a nap with you because they don't like us?" Ace exclaimed, still glaring at the two rascals.

"I guess." The latter shrugged before giving both of his mates an apologetic smile, "Sorry."

"It's okay. We can't really do anything about it anyway." Marco told him with a small smile, "Rest well then."

As he and Ace tried to approach just to give Harry a kiss, they snarled on once again.

"Alright, alright! We're leaving!" Ace exclaimed, glaring one last time at the two foxes before he and Marco left the bedroom.

Once the bedroom door had closed behind the two men and that you could hear them walking away, the two fennecs trotted happily toward where Harry was lying, their little heads held high as if they were proud of themselves. With a half amused and half bemused smile on his face, the young hybrid chuckled as his two new familiars were making their way to him.

"You know you'll have to be nice to them in the future." He told them as he began to scratch their chin, making them purr in delight, "They are my mates and they are very important to me."

The foxes then gave a low whine and began to rub against him affectionately, as if they didn't like the idea of being nice with the two other male and were reacting in a childish manner. This reaction made the young man laugh before it turned into giggle as two fluffy tails began to tickle his neck and chest where the kimono was slightly opened. He continued petting and playing with them for a moment before he suddenly realized something.

"Oh that's right I didn't give you names yet!" he exclaimed before sitting up and looking down at the two sandy fur balls with a pensive expression on his face, "What should I name you."

As he looked at them, he noticed how coppery looking the fur on their paws and tail was under the light of the room. They looked completely the and Harry could hardly seem find even one tiny aspect that would help to differentiate them from one another. Their little eyes were sparkling with mischief. But their eyes were also of a warm brown color that made them look very gentle and caring at the same time. The more he looked at them, the more they made him remember of two people that he really missed from his former world, which made him smile sadly in a nostalgic way.

"I'm going to name you Fred and George." He decreed, petting them softly on the head while he thought about the twins, missing them very much, "They were friends from the world I come from. I hope they are doing well. They are one of the few that I actually miss from my former world."

This is how for the first time ever since he had arrived, the young hybrid let a few teardrops out of his eyes as he thought about his former life. Feeling his distress, the two foxes quickly snuggled up to him, licking lovingly his face as if to clean his face from the tears. Smiling thankfully, the petite male hugged the two creatures close to his chest and lied down, the three of them snuggling up to each other to rest for a while.

_TBC_


	9. Admiral and Revolutionary Army

**Wahh I'm finally back! :D I'm sorry for such a long wait everyone! So many things going on! And when I think I finally have time to work properly and finish the next chapter, I get the flu with a fever that forces me to get bed rest for three whole days… -_-**

**Anyway now I'm back and I hope there will be no more flu or other viruses for me! ^^**

**I hope you'll like this new chapter.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Ouch! Why you little… Get back here!" Yelled Ace angrily, as he began to chase after Fred and George who had beaten him when he was going to sit on the couch, in Harry's room, where they were. "I'm going to make kebabs out of you and grill you, you little rascals!"

A few days had gone by since they had come back on the ship with the two little fennec foxes, and the relationship between the duo and Ace and Marco had not improved one bit. This bickering between the two grown men and the little rascals rather amused the crewmembers as they found it funny.

It seemed like every time they could, the two familiars would find a way to annoy and mess with either of the two men. The latters were becoming rather irritated and frustrated with this situation as this bullying that they were receiving from the foxes , which included making them stay away from their own mate.

Indeed, ever since Fred and George had been on board of this ship, Ace and Marco had had to sleep in their own beds with the rest of the crew as they couldn't approach Harry without getting growled at. Every time they would try to get close to the petite male or kiss him, one or both of the foxes would appear and act aggressive in a clear message telling them to stay away. The two men were becoming quite restless and irritated as either of them had kissed or had any physical contact with the young hybrid for quite some time.

Unfortunately for them, Harry was of no help as he kept fussing over the two little creatures and kept finding excuses as to why they were acting like this.

"What happened again?" the said young phoenix asked with a small sigh as he walked into the room after he had heard the shout from his mate.

"Those demons just bit me when I was just going to sit on the couch to rest for a few minutes!" the freckled pirate exclaimed, pointing accusingly at the two foxes who looked rather smug of themselves.

"Maybe they consider this couch as their property and they regard you sitting on it an act of aggression." He proposed gently, trying to calm his mate though it seemed to not help at all. "Fred and George are real sweethearts normally. They wouldn't harm a fly. There must have been reason."

"But they bit me! I wasn't doing anything threatening whatsoever!" he protested in almost a whine.

"I'm sorry I don't know why they are acting like this. For me this is the most plausible explanation. You need to learn coexist with them. I'm sure these are just misunderstandings and you will all soon be able to understand each other." The young man said with a tired sigh, rubbing his temple as he felt a headache coming its way. "Listen I have to go prepare dinner, but if you want we can talk more about this later."

After saying this he then walked out of the room, leaving a flabbergasted Ace behind him who looked a little dejected. Hearing what sounded like happily smug yaps, he then turned his head to glare at the two foxes.

"This is not over." He growled at them, throwing them a look that could kill before storming out of the room.

Some time went by and a few strange things began to happen. People began to get pranked and a series of mischief began to happen all over the ship on the crewmembers.

Though at first everyone brushed it off as the doing of a crewmember that wanted to make the men have a good laugh. But this one time began to happen again and again and soon everyone was greatly annoyed by it and they began to be suspicious of each other, wondering who could be the culprit who was pulling up so many pranks. It went from having a bucket of water falling on the head of someone entering a room to slippery floors and tags on the walls. A few of the men had also had the unfortunate fate of finding themselves waking up in animal or giant toddler costumes.

Even Whitebeard once woke up with his infamous big white mustache completely gone, his whole face looking like someone had shaved it during the night. That day, the whole crew hid from their captain as he vented his fury by yelling and creating tsunamis with his devil fruit powers, cursing the person who had dared to do this to him and promising a slow extremely painful death if he ever caught them.

Even though they were relentlessly trying to discover the person behind it, they could not seem to find who the one was doing it. And with nobody admitting to be the culprit, they were soon beginning to think that there must be a ghost on board.

While this series of mischief was happening, another issue was beginning to greatly annoy Harry who didn't care much about the pranks. They had only been once directed at him, in which one morning he had found himself clad in a cute kitten costume that he had actually found quite cute, and had walked in it proudly all day long. The matter that actually annoyed him a lot was the one of Fred and George not getting along with his mates. Though he had at first dismissed as just a need for the two foxes to get accustomed to them and their new environment, he could not do this anymore.

It had now been three weeks since he had brought them back on this ship, and his two familiars were nice to everyone except his mates. This fact bothered him to no end, especially since that meant that he hadn't been able to be close with them in the last three weeks. He knew he wouldn't be able to take this a lot longer and needed to take the matter into his own hands. Through his wind phoenix powers, he was able to converse on a very simple basis with most living creatures. Moreover, the bond he had created with his two familiars allowed him to be even better understood.

The opportunity to settle things came soon as he was sitting on the couch with Fred and George snoozing on his lap as Ace and Marco walked into the room. When they spotted him a smile appeared on their face to which he reciprocated, happy to see them. They then walked up to him, stopping right in front of him.

"Hey baby. How are you?" Ace asked as he looked tenderly at him.

"I'm okay. Feel a little drowsy though." The young hybrid replied with a weak shrug, smiling tiredly.

"Did you sleep enough last night love?" Marco immediately asked with a concerned expression on his face, taking a step forward and extending his hand as if he wanted to place it on the young man's forehead to check his temperature.

But as soon as he was doing this, two growls were heard from the two fennecs as they stood up and took a defensive pose. This was the last straw for the petite male as he grabbed each by the scruff and turned them toward him, looking at them with a very stern expression.

"Enough! I'm getting really tired of you two acting so hostile toward them." He told them with a slightly angry tone, "They are my mates and as such they have every right to be near me and touch me. You have no say in this matter. And if I want some alone time with them then you can't do anything about it. Am I clear?"

Fred and George, who now had their tail between their legs and their ears laying flat behind their head in submission, lowered their head in obeisance with a soft whine. As he saw them yield to his orders, the petite male's face softened and put down the two foxes that sullenly went to their cushion beds. He then turned to his mates with a smile to say something. But before he could do anything, he was suddenly engulfed by four arms into a bone breaking embrace, as both men hugged him fiercely in joy to finally be able to hold and touch their little mate once again.

"I missed you so much." Both of them said at the same time, making them pull out of the hug to look at each other with an amused expression.

"I think WE missed you a lot." Marco told Harry in a humorous tone, an amused smile on his face, before leaning down and kissing him on the top of his head.

As for Ace, the freckled pirated nuzzled his face into the long dark hair of the petite male and inhaled deeply, his whole body relaxing as his scent washed over him. This went on for a little longer as the two older men kept snuggling up to him and shower him with attention and kisses, only the fact that the two men had to go see Whitebeard soon making them stop reluctantly their cuddling session.

The following days saw two needy men, aka Ace and Marco, constantly taking Harry in their arms and swooping him in a kissing session as if they were trying to make up for all the time they had been deprived of it. This fact made the rest of the crew laugh a lot as they had never seen their two commanders so needy and affectionate.

Though the young hybrid didn't mind it too much, it was hard to function normally when you were getting mind-blowingly kissed at least twice a day or more. The two older men kept on showing their affection to their petite mate in diverse ways, celebrating the fact that they now could touch him again without having to be afraid to be bitten by the two foxes. The latter were now in fact much more tamed and tried more and more to be nice with them, which made the young man very happy and often praised and petted them for it.

One day, Harry was lying with Fred and George on the upper deck's floor, bathing in the sun and enjoying the warm weather. It was a rather slow day for the Whitebeard's pirates. The sea was calm and the wind was pushing the ship leisurely. Whitebeard as usual was happily drinking sake and the men were playing cards with each other. Everyone was taking it easy and enjoying a calm day.

Unfortunately the peaceful atmosphere didn't last very long, as the man who was in charge of being in watch saw three Marine ships approaching from afar.

"Three Marine ships are coming from the right!" he yelled, running to his captain and crewmates who were oblivious to everything.

These words triggered a series of actions. First, Whitebeard stopped to drink for a moment and everybody stopped what they were doing, a deafening silence settling on the ship. Then, everyone got on their feet and started running in every direction to get ready for battle while Marco and Ace gave them orders under the guidance of Whitebeard.

Harry watched as everyone bustled and got ready to face the Marine. He walked up to the railing where Ace and Marco were watching the ships approaching at a steady pace with the waves. He too watched with interest the ships for a moment before he heard something that he was not happy to hear.

"Go to the back of the ship." Ace told him while still looking ahead at the Marine ships.

"What?!" the young hybrid exclaimed looking at his dark haired mate in an outraged manner, not believing what he was hearing, "Why would I?!"

Marco turned around, opening his mouth, as he was about to explain the reason, when Whitebeard unexpectedly intervened.

"We need you at the infirmary so that you can take care of the wounded." The old man said in a serious tone as he gazed ahead at the approaching Marines, taking a large gulp of sake from his bottle, "There is an Admiral with them."

"Eh?!" the crew exclaimed in shock, not believing their 'father's' words.

At the mention of an Admiral, everyone had grown quite quiet as nervousness began to seep into the ranks, knowing that this battle might get more intense than a regular one with an Admiral at the commands.

"How do you know that captain?" one of them asked.

"Only an Admiral would have three ships sailing together." He replied, "All the others officers would have a maximum of two ships. But Admirals have more men under their command and having three ships is a sign of their superiority."

Everything was silent as everyone digested those information, preparing themselves mentally even more as they now knew that an Admiral was among those marines.

"Please Harry, for our sake, go to the back of the ship in the infirmary." Marco suddenly said as he looked at the petite male who was about to protest, putting a hand on his cheek and caressing it with the pad of his thumb, "I don't doubt for a second that you can hold your own in battle but our minds would be more at peace if you were to stay behind and take care of the wounded."

After a silent staring battle between them, Harry finally reluctantly agreed and walked to the back of the ship. Satisfied, his mates and the rest of the crew focused once more on the now rather ships. But Harry stopped his tracks before the infirmary and hid himself so that the other wouldn't see he hadn't actually obeyed and had stayed to watch the battle unfold.

When the Marine ships got there, they finally saw who was the Admiral in charge of this fleet. It appeared to be none other than Aokiji. The officer in question was lying on a deckchair, looking lazily at them from it.

"If it isn't Whitebeard. I didn't think I cross path with you." The man commented in a calm demeanor as he had one of his fingers up his nose, "In fact, it's quite troublesome actually as it means that I have to fight and arrest you."

"Tch! As if a kid like you could be able to even fight me." The old man replied in voice as calm as the other, with an arrogant tinge to it.

The battle was then engaged as some of the Whitebeard's men boarded the Marine ships while some Marines actually managed to get onto the pirate ship. The battle appeared to be a long and hard one where people from each side began to grow tired. Though Aokiji and Whitebeard were not really participating in it, except for the few times they would fend against a fool who thought they could take them on, it seemed that there was a few casualties and a lot of wounded were beginning to appear.

Not able to take it anymore, Harry stepped back onto the main deck, dead set on giving a hand in defeating the Marines. Suddenly, Aokiji's gaze turned toward him, an curious and interested gleam in his eyes as they roamed his appearance and focused on the big pair of wings on his back. Noticing the change in the Admiral's behavior, Whitebeard turned to look at what the man was looking. Realizing that Harry was now on the battlefield and was the center of the officer's attention, the old man quickly turned toward Ace and Marco.

"Ace, Marco!" he called them to get their attention before nodding to where the young hybrid was , to make them silently understand the situation.

As fast as they could, the two men made their way to their petite mate while Whitebeard thought quickly about the situation and what they should do. He didn't like the look on Aokiji's face. Though it was true that the young hybrid was rather unusual, the interest that the Admiral seemed to have for him was troubling.

He knew that Aokiji was not interested in people except if he thought they had some special abilities and/or represented a possible threat. As such, the fact that he was looking at Harry this way was worrying. Moreover, the number of men that were getting wounded was beginning to grow considerably so he came to the conclusion that the best thing to do was to retreat and be far from Aokiji as soon as possible.

With the his mind made up, Whitebeard tgot up, readied the huge spear that he had and swung it really fast, using his devil fruit powers at the same time. This move created a huge crack in the air, which made a big gust of wind push the three Marine ships away from them. His men then threw the remaining Marines that had been on their ship over the railing, and with the help of Harry and his wind phoenix powers, they managed to get away from Aokiji and his fleet.

Once they were at a safe distance from the Marine fleet and knew nobody would go after them, they began to assess the damages and tend to the wounded. The battle against Aokiji's men had given a consequent blow and the captain decided that they needed to stop at the nearest island to rest and take properly care of the wounded.

He was taking in charge the situation very well, giving out orders to the valid men and directing them efficiently. However, in the back of his mind though, he had a lingering feeling of worry concerning the interest that Aokiji seemed to have had shown toward Harry. It was actually the first time that Harry seemed to be acknowledged by a member of the Marine and it concerned him about what position that would put the young hybrid in.

They arrived at some unknown island that they had never seen before and docked in a nearby creek. The island seemed completely dry and empty, not even one sign of life showing. The crew began to actively take care of the ship and their fellow crewmembers who had been injured. While everyone was bustling, Harry decided he wanted to walk around this island and explore it. As he was about to get off the ship, his two mates suddenly called him.

"What are you doing Harry?" Ace asked, looking at his mate with a mix of concern and curiosity on his face.

"I'm going for a walk around the island. I want to see how it looks like." He replied, already taking off in the air with one push from his powerful wings.

"Hang on we'll come with you." Marco quickly said, conjuring his own wings and grabbing onto the freckled pirate, to the surprise of the latter who let out a startled shout, before taking off as well, not letting the chance of the petite male to wander off without them.

As they walked on the island they noticed that there were tall rock pillars all over the island and that the ground was of a white color, almost as if there was snow at some places. The wind was blowing strongly and they had a hard time walking as they almost fought against the wind that blew against them. This was also hindering them in seeing correctly and made them use their hands as an eyeshade to protect their eyes against the wind and dust that

blew.

But suddenly, out of nowhere, cloaked men stood up from the ground and pointed their guns at them.

"Hands up! And don't do anything suspicious or we won't hesitate to shoot." One of them shouted.

"Whoa! What's happening?" Harry said startled, wondering who those men were, "Who are you?"

"You have stepped on the Revolutionary Army's territory and are considered enemies until your identified and your intentions have been cleared." Another told them, still pointing threateningly their guns at them.

"My name is Portgas D. Ace, second division commander of Whitebeard and this is Marco, first division commander and our mate Harry Potter." The dark haired young man presented himself and his companions, quickly casting a glance toward Marco telling him to not do anything, his voice and whole attitude calm despite the situation they were in right now.

"You'll tell us everything at the base. Now start walking." The other cloaked man said, pushing him forward with the tip of his gun.

They then began to walk, under very close surveillance of the revolutionaries and their guns, toward the base. They arrived in front of a gigantic building that had been made in what looked to be a massive rock almost as big as a mountain. They were led into a room with just a table and chairs in the middle of it. They were told to take a seat and were left there to wait for someone to come give them the opportunity to explain why they were here.

Not long after their arrival, the door opened to a tall man with spiky black hair with a widow's peak hairstyle, and what resembled tribal tattoos on the left side of his face. He was dressed in a long green cloak and was sporting a sinister confident grin on his face, which made his face very intimidating.

"Welcome to Baltigo, the Revolutionary Army's headquarters. I am Monkey D. Dragon." The man told them, looking at them with a serious expression on his face as he took the seat opposite to them, showing he wasn't joking around at all, "May I know who you are and what you are doing on this island?"

"My name is Marco, first division commander of Whitebeard's fleet." The latter presented himself once again before presenting his companions, "And this is Portgas D . Ace, second division commander and our mate Harry Potter. We stopped at this island to take care of the men who have been wounded during an encounter we have had with Marine Admiral Aokiji."

"We didn't know this island was the property of the Revolutionary Army." Ace said, looking at the man in front of them straight in the eyes a hard edge shining in them, his tone being cold and incisive, "If I had known I would have avoided the island where I would meet the worthless father who abandoned his son, alone to lead some kind of crusade."

At those words, a taken aback expression briefly appeared on the revolutionary leader's face while the dark haired pirate's mates looked at him with a surprised and very curious expression on their face. After awhile the face of the tattooed man hardened as he looked at Ace with wary expression.

"What do you know about my life young man?" he asked, his eyes narrowed with a frown on his face.

"Luffy is my little brother." The freckled pirate told him.

"I've only had one child." He replied, his frown deepening, "Luffy doesn't have any siblings."

"Maybe in your terms he doesn't. But you don't need a blood relation to consider someone as you brother, Ace to the other said with a severe gaze, "Luffy and I have lived most of our childhood together and for me he is my precious younger brother."

"I see." The revolutionary said in a low voice, watching him intently with a pensive look on his face, "And you hate me because I left Luffy behind , is that it?"

"I despise anyone who leaves their lovers and family behind to selfishly pursue something." Ace replied with a snarl.

A deafening silence settled between them for a moment, nobody knowing what to say. Though Harry felt actually rather happy and relieved to hear that Ace would never leave him or Marco for some selfish reason. The young hybrid looked at the man that was supposedly at the head of the Revolutionary Army and was also Luffy's father. But now a question was beginning to appear in his mind, if they were not blood-brothers then who was Ace's father?

"I did what I had to do. I chose to leave so that I could make the world a better place, a place where there would be no dictatorship and where everyone would be free." The man said with a grave tone.

"Tch! So you are saying that a kid growing up without parents is not a big deal if it is to join the Revolutionary Army and oppose the World Government?" the young man hissed through clenched teeth, anger clear in his eyes and voice.

The conversation went on a bit longer like this for ten minutes before it was decided that they were free to go, which had Ace leaving very quickly. His confrontation with Dragon had made him upset and he had a hard time containing his anger. He walked at a fast pace until he was out of the building and far enough from the headquarters, kicking a stone on the ground angrily before sitting down on a rock for a moment to try and calm down.

Suddenly he felt a hand softly rest on his shoulder and turned around to see it was Harry. The who gave him a small smile before sitting next to him and taking his had in his own and entwining their fingers together while he rubbed circles with his thumb in the back on his hand in a soothing manner. They didn't say anything and just stayed like this for a moment, the freckled pirated feeling himself relax gradually under the light touch of his petite mate.

"Thank you babe." He said, turning to look at the other with a smile, kissing his forehead lovingly.

"I am not really doing much." He replied with a blushing, a small happy and embarrassed smile on his face at his mate's gratitude.

"You are here and that's what matters the most." The other told him as he hid his face into the crook of his neck for a few seconds, inhaling his scent and reveling in it.

"Actually there is something that I need to tell both of you…since we are in a relationship." Ace said hesitantly after another moment of silence.

At hearing this, Marco and Harry looked at their mate with curiosity, wondering why he had a solemn expression all of a sudden and feeling that this was going to be very big. After clearing his voice and trying to find the courage in himself to say what he wanted to tell them, the freckled pirate looked up at them.

"As you know now, Luffy and I don't the same father. We don't even have the same mother actually." He began to say, nervousness clear in his voice as he dropped the bombshell, "Actually, Gol D. Roger is my father."

Shocked by this revelation, the two others didn't say anything and just looked at him with their mouth agape. The young hybrid was actually the first one to recover from the short shock at hearing this bit of information. He tightened his grip on the other's hand that he had not let go and snuggled up closer to his side.

"Though I appreciate the fact that you told us. This information is of no importance to me whatsoever." He told him, making the other look at him with a surprised expression on his face, "Whatever your heritage, you are your own person. The identity of your parents doesn't make you who you are. It is what you do and the choices you make that define who you are."

A smile then stretched itself on his face as happiness and gratitude toward his petite mate overwhelmed him, kissing him gently as if to thank him. Marco then also went out of his shocked state and walked over to his best friend and put a warm hand on his shoulder.

"This is exactly as Harry said. You are still yourself regardless of your parentage. Where you are going is more important than where you are from." He told him with a smile, squeezing his shoulder to show his support.

"I guess I was scared for nothing." Ace then said in a laughing tone as all the pressure he had felt left him as fast as it had come, adding in a softer tone to the two others, "Thank you."

"Anytime partner" The blond man replied with a grin, slapping him friendly in the back, "We need to go back before the old man sends people to look for us."

Looking at the darkening sky, Ace realized that they had been out practically all day and that it was indeed getting late. So he and Harry got up and the three of them began to walk back to where the ship was, holding hands together as today's experience had made them grew closer together.

That night, Ace was the one who slept in the bed with Harry. As they were both getting prepared for the night, the freckled pirate just putting pajama pants on while the young hybrid was in the bathroom brushing his teeth. Fred and George were already on their cushions beds, sleeping in a obliviously happy way.

"I just wanted to thank you again for today." He said, sitting on his side of the bed with his back against the wall, while Harry was arriving to get in bed as well, "I'm really glad that you reacted the way you did when I told you about who my father was."

"It really is not necessary to thank me!" the other protested, rolling his eyes slightly at the attitude of the older man, "You are my mate and you will always have my love and support whatever your background. What kind of mate would I be if I judged you according to your background huh?"

Slightly taken aback at being scolded by the young man, the freckled pirate looked at the latter with wide eyes for a few seconds before chuckling at his own stupid fears. He had really hit the jackpot by having Harry as his mate.

"You're right I'm sorry." He apologized, kissing him tenderly on his forehead.

"You better be." He grumbled before looking up at him with a half serious half playful smirk on his face, "You better kiss me properly if you want me to forgive you fully."

"Your wish is my command." The taller man replied with a smile of his own before leaning and capturing Harry's lips in a sweet kiss.

They began to kiss at a languorous pace, just enjoying the feel of the other's mouth and tongue. But the kiss began to get more heated, tongues and teeth clashing in a more needy way. Letting out a moan of utter bliss, the young hybrid pressed himself closer to Ace while the latter pulled him on his laps, making him straddle them. They continued to kiss intensely with a fiery passion. The older of the two then began to run his hand along the petite male's sides, massaging him through his clothes, which made him moan even more.

But then, when he was about to put his hands underneath the young hybrid's kimono, the hands of the latter suddenly grabbed his wrist to prevent him from going any further. Taken aback as to why his mate had done this, he broke the kiss and look at him with a questioning gaze.

"I'm sorry… it's just that I'm not ready for that yet." The young man said, averting his eyes from the other's ones with a blush on his cheeks.

"It' alright." Ace reassured him softly, caressing his face with his hand in a loving gesture before kissing the top of his head, "I will wait as long as I have to wait until you are ready."

"Thank you." Harry mumbled embarrassedly but with a happy, relieved smile on his smile as he furrowed his face into the taller man's chest, snuggling up to his body and taking comfort into his warmth.

"We better both go to sleep to be fresh tomorrow." The older man told him, putting the blanket over them and lying down comfortably in bed with the young man still in his arms, "Goodnight baby."

"Goodnight." The other mumbled sleepily, letting out a content sigh as he snuggled further into his mate's arms and slowly fell into a heavy slumber.

_TBC_

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**As always thank you for your nice reviews! I hope that this chapter entertained you. ^^**

**See you next chapter!**


	10. Unexpected Turn of Events

**Hello everyone! Okay so from now on the pace of the chapters is bit steadier as I am officially on vacation! :D Though I wonder for how long exactly.. lol**

**Anyway, thank you very much to all the people who read and show their support to this story even though I'm such a bad author for uploading not regularly. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when I read a review or I see someone putting it in their favorite or alert.**

**Quite a few things are happening in this chapter and I hope you'll like it. ;)**

**Enjoy!**

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"Aarrgh! That…! If I catch him I'm going to…!" someone yelled from the upper deck.

People immediately rushed up there to discover one of their crewmate with flamboyant pink and orange hair. He also seemed to have nail polish on both his finger and toenails. The man was cursing and yelling out any threats he could think of to the person that had done this to him without even knowing who had done it.

"What's going on?" the voice of Whitebeard rose from the crowd as he was walking toward them to see what all the ruckus was about, while it was still so early in the morning.

"Captain I can't take it anymore! Look at what they've done to my hair?!" the man complained with a frustrated voice, "It's been three weeks since these pranks have begun and they keep on going. We still haven't found who the culprit is and it's making me go crazy."

Indeed, the pranks had been regularly happening for the past three weeks on the crewmembers. It was making everyone restless and slightly on edge, as they had become more and more frustrated , at not having caught the person who was responsible for all this mischief yet. Tensions among the crew were beginning to be created and build up.

This was why Whitebeard made a decision.

"Everyone has been under a lot of stress recently with everything that happened in the last few weeks." He said after letting out a heavy frustrated sigh, "The next island is the summer resort island Ibusuki. Let's stop there to relax and get back some stamina for a few days."

At this announce the men became quiet for a few seconds before an excited murmur began to rise from the crowd at the idea of spending some time at this island. Ibusuki island was very well known in the New World for its resorts and spas.

Everyone became more and more excited at the prospect of spending some time relaxing under the sun. They all began to work harder to arrive sooner there and the ambiance on the ship became a bit lighter than before.

As soon as they arrived there they began to disperse themselves in groups in different directions after Whitebeard told them they would stay five days on this island, telling to relax and enjoy this short vacation. Harry, Ace and Marco went to get rooms in one of the upper resort hotels, Ace insisting on being the one to pay for it. They of course had to find one that was pet friendly as Harry had refused to leave his two familiars behind. After having settled down in their respective bedrooms, they decided to enjoy the hotel's swimming pool.

Marco and Ace were already in the swimming pool, swimming and fooling around with each other while waiting for their mate. When the petite male finally arrived it was hard for the two other men not to gawk at him and his exposed upper body.

"The water feels really nice in this hot weather." Harry commented with a blissful sigh as he stepped into the swimming pool.

"Ibusuki island has always been known for its resorts and beautiful weather." Marco said with a small smile, greeting the hybrid with a sweet kiss on his forehead.

"It is really a beautiful island. We should go a have walk around." The petite male said with a big excited smile.

"Should we do it tomorrow?" the blond proposed, looking slightly amused by the excitement that his younger mate was showing, looking at him with endearment.

"Yeah let's do it!" he replied, already feeling thrilled at the prospect of visiting the island.

"We should bring food with us tomorrow and do a picnic too." Ace said with an equally excited smile, snaking his arm around the slim waist of the phoenix hybrid.

"Deal." Harry said before they gave each other a high five to seal the decision.

Then suddenly both taller men's smile turned mischievous smirks and without warning the two grabbed the petite male by his arms and legs. They then swung him back and forth, threatening to throw him into the water while Harry shrieked and tried to threaten them that they should not do it.

They swam and played together like this for a while before getting out of the pool, when they heard their stomach begin to growl as they were starting to feel hungry. As such they went to the city center with the fennec foxes and went to a food market, where a lot of stalls with all different and delicious smelling food that was being cooked.

As they were strolling calmly in the alleys, looking for something tasty that would catch their eyes, Harry suddenly took off to one the stalls. Surprised at first by the sudden action of their mate, Ace and Marco joined him after a few seconds. Once they caught up to him they realized that what the young man was looking at were grilled rice stuffed squid on skewers.

The eyes of the hybrid were shining with excitation at the sight of the food, his nostrils flaring as the smell of the food was wafting toward him. Even Fred and George who were each standing on one of his shoulders were showing quite an interest in the food as they leaned forward.

Both older men looked at them with an amused expression. When it came to food it was hard to find someone as passionate about food as Harry was, except for a few exceptions such as Ace's brother Luffy. And it seemed that his familiars took to food as the same from their master, as they usually engulfed a rather large quantity of food for small creatures like them. They then both turned toward the stall owner.

"How much are these?" Ace asked as he pointed at the skid skewers.

"2 beri for one." The owner who was an old lady with a friendly smile answered.

"Give us five of them please." The freckled pirate said, taking his wallet from his pocket and taking out the money to pay for the food.

"Here you go." The old lady said as she handed them the five skewers.

Ace and Marco then gave one to Harry. At seeing this Fred and George began to whine at them to have theirs as well, jumping slightly on the young man's shoulders.

"Yeah , yeah you'll have yours as well! But unless you have opposable thumbs you can't hold those skewers yourselves so you'll have to wait that we find a place to sit." Ace told them in an authoritarian tone.

After that the two foxes calmed down and begrudgingly waited for a place to sit was found. Fortunately for them it didn't take them long to find one, where they quickly jumped down from Harry to enjoy their food that Marco and Ace had put down for them.

The place they were sitting at was a plaza with a few benches and a fountain in the middle. The sun was shining high through the leaves of the few trees that were providing some shading there and there was a slight pleasant wind to refresh them.

"It really feels nice to be here like this. " the young hybrid commented as he leaned his head back a bit and closed his eyes, enjoying the sun, "I wish it could stay like this for while."

"It is going to be like that for a while." Marco said, feeding him a piece of fruit that he had bought earlier.

"Hm I guess but it's just for five days." he replied with a small pout while munching on his piece of fruit.

"Well why don't we take a real vacation then? Just the three of us." The blond man proposed with a smile, stroking softly his petite mate's hair.

"That's a good idea but we'll have to do it later." Ace suddenly said while bickering with Fred and George about a piece of chicken, getting the attention of his mate and best friend before he lifted his head up to look at them with a serious expression, "I decided to start looking for Teach again."

"What?!" both Harry and Marco exclaimed at the same time with bewildered expression on their face, their eyes wide as they couldn't believe what they had just heard.

"You can't be serious." Harry said in a disbelieving tone.

"Ace, this is futile. There is something fishy going on with Teach. Everyone feels uneasy about the whole idea of you chasing after him." Marco told him, trying to stay calm and reason his friend.

Ace didn't say anything, just looking at the two of them in front of him with a closed expression as he was mulling over what Marco had just said.

"Still. I can't stay still while this murderer roams around free." He said stubbornly after a moment.

"Yes but now that you have us, you have to consider that fact into the equation as well." The phoenix man replied sounding slightly annoyed, "What are you going to do by leaving us, leaving Harry behind this early into the relationship? Right now our relationship, though we might feel strongly about each other, is fragile. Even though you were the first to get with Harry, we both still need to work on our relationship with him."

At the mention of Harry, the freckled pirate became quiet once again as he had this time a much more torn expression.

"Please give up on pursuing Blackbeard and forget about him." The blond man pleaded.

The dark haired man looked at Harry who had not said anything up until now. The latter was looking at him with pleading eyes, looking like he was on the verge of tears, which made his heart ache. Even the two fennec foxes were giving him a critical look.

"Alright." He said with a defeated sigh, looking up at them both, "I'll stay."

Almost immediately he was engulfed into a big hug as Harry flung himself toward him, making him almost lose his balance and fall over backward.

"Thank you." The young hybrid murmured in a slightly trembling voice.

Not really knowing what to say Ace just kept quiet and returned his hug. He held him tightly in his arms, tucking his head under his chin and stroking his back soothingly. They stayed like this for a moment before separating from each other.

After that the atmosphere between them became lighter again. They continued to eat for a while, feeding each other, talking of different things and just having a good time together. Once their belly was full with food and all, they began to head back to the hotel.

As they arrived near their bedroom, Ace and Marco were about to each go to their respective bedroom when they were both caught by the wrist and held back by Harry. Curious about why he was behaving that way, they turned to look at him with an inquisitive look on their face.

"Could you both sleep with me tonight please?" he asked in a hesitant voice, biting his lower lip in an anxious manner.

Sensing that their mate was very emotional right now, neither of the older men had the heart to refuse his demand. So they accepted, following him in the bedroom and preparing for the night.

When they finally made their way to bed, they each laid next to the young hybrid, making him lay between them, and getting as close to him as possible by spooning him and wrapping their arms around him. Feeling comfortable, safe and loved between his mates, Harry slowly fell asleep while snuggling up to them. After he drifted off to sleep, both Marco and Ace looked at his sleeping figure for a moment before they also slowly surrendered to slumber too.

The remaining four days were spent in a similar fashion of swimming, hiking around in the island , and strolling into the town where they stayed. Ever since Ace had accepted to give up on pursuing Blackbeard, the atmosphere between the three men had become much lighter and they were able to enjoy their vacation to its fullest.

They reluctantly left the island and went back to the life onboard of Whitebeard's ship, the Moby Dick. Everything went back to normal on the ship and everyone went back to their everyday tasks.

One day, Ace was giving some orders to his men when he suddenly heard something that attracted his attention. It was a soft melodious shrill that brought a lot of emotion to one's heart but also gave them a sense of peace.

To discover what the source of this sound was exactly he began to walk in the direction where it coming from only to discover that it came from Harry. The young hybrid was actually in his phoenix form and seemed to be doing singing practice from what it looked like.

Intrigued by why he was doing this, the freckled pirate walked over to him while some men of the crew were looking at the phoenix with a lost look in their eyes as they seemed not to know that it was actually Harry in phoenix form in front of them.

"What are you doing Harry?" Ace asked softly, wondering why his mate was acting like this.

At his question, the phoenix stopped singing and turned to look at him before he slowly transformed back into his original hybrid form, making the men gasp as they finally realized that it had been Harry all along.

"I'm practicing magical chants." He replied calmly, "Wind phoenixes can control the wind and as a consequence the sounds that travel through the air. So I am practicing to master them. Since I have lost all of my wizard's power I need to find other ways to use magic."

"Do you miss it a lot?" the dark haired man suddenly asked, looking at the petite male intently.

"What?" the latter asked looking a bit confused.

"Your wizard powers." The other clarified, "Do you miss not having them?"

"Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't." he replied after a moment of pondering, "I didn't actually spend most of my childhood around magic so I was not as dependent as others were on it. But I had started to grow used to it so not being able to use it or see it is something I miss a bit."

"You haven't grown around magic?" the second commander of Whitebeard's fleet asked surprised.

"My parents were killed by a mad man when I was one year old and I was sent to live with my aunt and her husband and son who were non-magical folks and they passionately hated magic." He explained, trying to sound nonchalant about the whole thing but had a hard time keeping the tremor out of his voice as he talked, "The first time I heard about magic and me being a wizard was the day someone came to tell me that I was accepted at Hogwarts, the school of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"I see." Ace simply said, feeling at a loss for words.

Later that day, in the evening after dinner, the dark haired young man went to Harry's room. The discussion that he had had earlier that day with him was bothering him and it kept replaying in his mind. It seemed as if the young hybrid's past had been rather hard and from the tremor that had been in his voice when he talked about his relatives, his time there seemed to have been anything but pleasant.

He arrived in front of the room and knocked on the door, waiting for the authorization to enter. Once he heard him telling him to enter, he quickly went in and made sure to close the door behind him.

"Hey." Harry greeted him with a smile.

"Hey." The other said with a smile as well though it was quickly replaced by a serious expression, "Can we talk about something?"

"Sure what is it?" the young hybrid asked curious, sitting at the foot of his bed.

"It's about what you said earlier today." Ace said cautiously, not knowing how the other was going to react and fearing that he would get on the defensive, "About you living with your relatives for most of your childhood."

As he had expected, Harry's immediately tensed at hearing this.

"What about that?" he asked, his voice sounding slightly defensive and even aggressive on a certain level.

"Well it seemed that there was more about that than you let on." The freckled pirate daringly said, watching attentively his smaller mate and his tiniest reactions.

When the young hybrid stayed quiet and his body stayed tense, Ace slowly walked up to him and carefully sat next to him.

"I know it's a touchy subject and maybe you even want to completely forget about all of it. But you need to know that I am your mate and I am here for you." He told him, finally daring to touch him as he grabbed him by the shoulders and made softly turned to face him, "I love you and I will always be there for you. Your burdens are my burdens and I will happily carry them for you."

At hearing this, the eyes of the petite male began to become wet as tears appeared at the corner of his eyes. Without any words, he buried his face into Ace chest. He then pressed his body against his, seeking as much comfort as possible while tears began to spill freely from his eyes as he cried.

After a few minutes, Harry finally began to calm down and all you could hear were a few sniffles here and there. Then, without warning the young man began to talk.

"My aunt envied my mother because she was magical while she was not. Because of that she grew to despise magic and everything related to it. She shunned my mother out of her life and never talked to her." He began to say, controlling his breathing to not be overcome by his emotions again, "I was sent to her house without her consent. I was basically forced on her. Since I was the son of her sister and as such a magical being myself, her husband and her treated me like dirt while their son grew to bully me as well. They made me live in a cupboard, had me made do all the house chores, and as well make the breakfast and other meals for them."

Ace listened intently as the young hybrid described his life at the Dursleys and how they had treated him all those years. He listened to him until the end without interrupting although there were a numerous amount of time where he had wanted to talk. He was baffled by how all the adults around him had done nothing to get him out of this horrible house, where he wasn't loved and where he was treated like trash.

And from what he had heard it was not like he had not seek any help. So why the hell had nobody done anything? The fire user began to feel a deep anger and hatred for the people from the young man's former world. What kind of people let a young boy fend for himself against such hateful relatives?

He was slightly taken out of his anger as Fred and George suddenly jumped on the bed and began lick and rub against Harry in a way to comfort him. With a grateful smile, the young hybrid scratched them under their chin and petted them a bit to say thank you before the two foxes went out of the room through the trap specially made for them so that they could go out whenever they wanted to.

Once the fennecs were gone, Ace focused once again entirely on his mate whom he took in his arms and held tightly against him for a while. The young man gratefully welcomed the comforting embrace and hugged back as fiercely as the other. After a moment they slightly pulled apart to look into each other's eyes.

But as their eyes locked, another kind of feeling began to go through them. They felt their heart beat faster and their palms began to feel a bit sweaty. As if entranced their face began to get closer from one another before their lips finally met one another. The kiss began slow and sweet, but passion and desire began to quickly be fueled in. The kiss then began to be fiercer and more needy.

Ace ran his hands up and down the sides of his mate, one hand going to his back pull him closer to him and feel his body. His hands then started to become more adventurous and slipped inside the light kimono that the other was wearing at that moment. Meeting no resistance or objection from the latter, the freckled pirate's hands continued their exploration of his body and stroked the deliciously soft milky white skin.

Breaking away from their kiss for some air, Harry let out a soft moan as his skin was stroked and caressed by the calloused hands of his dark haired mate. His body felt hot and he didn't know if he would be able to survive if his heart beat any faster. Then suddenly he let out a surprised gasp as Ace began to kiss and suck on his neck, creating hickeys here and there as if he was marking him as his.

He then threw his head back and let out a groan of pleasure as one of his mate's hands began to play with one of his nipples by rubbing, pinching and massaging it. Who knew his nipples were actually such a sensitive area. Ace then softly began to push him, to make him lay down on the bed completely.

Once he was lying down, Ace leaned down to once again to kiss him sweetly before kissing downward to his jaw where he reached his throat and collarbone He then went back up on the neck before taking the earlobe and suckling on it for a second. This action made Harry's toes curl under the sensations that those ministrations were giving him, his hands gripped the bed sheets beneath him.

Beginning to feel that the neck was not enough anymore and wanting to explore more, Ace began to lower himself further on his body. He removed softly the upper part of the kimono from the young hybrid's body, while tenderly kissing the exposed flesh of his chest. He then attached his mouth to one of his nipples and suckled on it while taking care of the other with his hand.

Harry was now writhing under all the sensations that were attacking at the same time. How many sensitive areas on his body did he have? If this went on too long he might lose his mind under so much pleasure. Even though he was not wearing constricting clothes, his shaft was already pulsing madly, aching to be touched.

After he was finished lavishing properly both nipples with his mouth and tongue, the freckled pirate decided to go even lower, kissing and nipping at the skin as he went down. He shortly stopped at the belly button in which he dipped his tongue in and out a few times in a very sensual but naughty manner. He then went down even lower, tracing the contours of his little mate's groin with the tip of his tongue, enjoying the way he moaned and writhed under his ministrations.

Deciding that he really needed to get rid of the kimono, he finished to undress him and threw the kimono in a corner of the room, before grabbing one of the young man's legs and kissing the calf down to the inside of the thighs. He then began to trail kisses on the groin, always avoiding the final prize, and kissed the inside of the other thigh reverently.

"Nnngh…Ace please…" Harry moaned in what almost sounded like a needy sob, as he raised his hips in the air desperately.

"Shh love. Be patient." Ace said as he went up and murmured in his ear before kissing the earlobe and capturing his lips in a sweet kiss.

He then went back down again and grabbed the other's buttocks with his hands and began to massage them sensually, while kissing his lower abdomen and inhaling deeply the scent of arousal and pleasure he could smell coming from him.

"Ace." The young hybrid said in a whiny voice, feeling like he was going to lose it from physical frustration.

"Is that what you want?" the dark haired man asked with a naughty smile as he palmed the petite male's erection, making the latter moan loudly and push his hips desperately upward as if to get more friction.

The young man was now a blabbering mess as his taller mate gripped his dripping member. He began to massage it from root to tip, thumbing the slit from time to time, which drove the other crazy with pleasure and made him let out more delicious sounds from his mouth. After giving two more strokes, the freckled pirate decided that it was time to prepare for the main event.

He released Harry's cock and took out a small bottle of lube that he had in one of his pocket. Don't judge him. It was not that he was a pervert. But this could come in handy if something important happened unexpectedly and it was precisely the case for this situation.

After having lubed thoroughly three of his fingers, he inserted one of them into his mate, breaching the virgin ring of muscle, which made the latter wriggle at the uncomfortable feeling. But before Harry could say or ask anything, he threw his head violently backward and let out a loud moan as the other took him into his mouth and began to suck him hard. His hands flew to the other man's hair, tangling his fingers into the dark locks and actually encouraging him to take even more of him.

The uncomfortable feeling of having something inside of him completely forgotten, Harry was now trying to refrain himself from bucking into that hot mouth, which was enveloping his length into a wonderfully warm and wet cocoon. In no time Ace was moving three fingers inside the young hybrid's ass and was stretching as much as possible. Once he had made sure that his mate was relaxed and stretched enough, he pulled out his fingers from him and released his shaft from his mouth.

Harry was about to protest and ask why he had stopped and when he saw that Ace had left the bed and was actually taking his shorts and boots off, leaving him standing completely naked in front of him. Gulping nervously, the young man now realized completely what they were about to do and it made him slightly nervous. It was his first time after all, and even though up until now everything had been really amazing, he couldn't help but feel slightly apprehensive about what was to come.

Noticing the apprehension of his smaller mate, the dark haired man went back on the bed, crawling up to him and capturing his lips with his in a sweet reassuring kiss.

"Everything is going to be alright love." He told him, kissing him sweetly on his forehead before going back to his lips and pecking them tenderly, "I'm going to make you feel even better than before."

Harry wondered if it was even possible to feel even better than how he had felt until now. But he didn't get the time to ponder too much on this as he felt something nudge his entrance. Realizing that it was Ace's cock, he braced himself by quickly putting his arms around the other's neck. He gripped him firmly while he slowly pushed inside of him, his face buried in the crook of his neck, breathing heavily as he felt Ace fill him inch by inch.

Once he was up to the hilt inside his lover, Ace stopped moving and waited for him to get accustomed to his size and having him inside him. When he felt him begin to wiggle slightly, a sign that he had become accustomed, he began to slowly move his hips back and forth. This brought a gasp to the young Harry's lips. He could feel Ace moving inside of him, the friction of his cock against the walls of his entrance sending delicious sparks of pleasure.

He could feel the other rolling his hips and angling them in diverse directions as if he was searching for something. It was only after a few more thrusts that he discovered what he had been searching for. Suddenly, a strong jolt of pleasure spread though all his body and his body arched under the intense sensation, making him let out a long moan. Realizing through Harry's reaction that he had found it, the dark haired man suddenly increased his speed, thrusting harder and faster into the petite male, while making sure to touch his prostate with every thrust.

As he felt him pummel his sweet spot, the young hybrid had more and more of a hard time staying quiet as the pleasure was too much. He gripped his mate as hard as he could, as he felt like he would fall if he didn't attach himself to something. He was so close. His body felt like it was on fire. His head was spinning from all the pleasure he felt.

Ace, who was also at his limit, felt the coiling sensation in his groin that announced that he was on the edge. He grabbed the forgotten length of his lover and began to stroke it in rhythm with his thrusts. This brought the young man on the other side as he was quickly brought to orgasm as he climaxed in a final cry, moaning the name of his mate. Seeing his mate come in such an undone and sexy manner pushed Ace over the edge as well and made him climax forcefully, emptying himself inside the petite male who was slowly coming down from the high of his orgasm.

After having recovered his senses a bit, the freckled pirate pulled out of the other and laid next to him, taking his petite mate in his arms as they both enjoyed the afterglow. Their breathing began to calm down after a while and Harry snuggled closer to Ace, hugging him contentedly after their intense moment.

What he didn't notice was that his whole body and his first mate glowed for a moment, enveloping them both in light, before it disappeared. They both fell asleep in each other's arms, feeling satiated and completely happy to be with someone they loved.

After that night of deep of intimacy between the two, Harry and Ace had finally completed their bond and they were now closer than ever. They obviously informed Marco of this fact who congratulated them although he felt quite a bit envious of them, wanting to complete his bond with Harry soon too. However it seemed that it was not time for him and Harry to do so yet.

One day, as they were beginning to run low on food, Whitebeard decided to stop at the next island and restock their ship on food and other supplies. They arrived at a small island and docked not far from a town that seemed to be famous for its fishing business. Groups were formed and given specific errands to do.

"We are going to stay as little time as possible on this island guys. So I expect you to be fast and efficient so that we can leave quickly. Got it?" Whitebeard told them before they all went to do what they had to do.

"Yes captain!" everyone responded in chorus before quickly departing the ship.

Harry, Marco and Ace were actually in the team in charge of going to buy food. They learned from a local that there was quite a big open-air market where they would be able to get some good fresh food. On the way there, one of the man from the group suddenly turned to look at the others.

"My throat is as dry as the desert of Alabasta let's go have a drink!" the guy said, receiving a few agreeing exclamations.

"Pops told us to be fast and not take to long." Marco replied, shaking his head negatively.

"Oh come on Marco! Just one drink and then we go buy what we have to get and go back to the ship." Another man protested.

Though both Marco and Ace were reluctant, after arguing with the others they gave in and agreed to go have a drink. Not far they found a tavern and went in it. When they entered it, they saw that the bar wasn't too crowded. There also noticed a group of pirates sitting a few tables away from theirs as they sat down.

"There seems to be another crew of pirates on this island right now." one of their man commented as he glanced at the other group of pirate.

"Yeah I saw their boat docked on the other side when we were arriving." Another said, while drinking the rum that they had ordered.

Feeling that they were being looked at, the other crew of pirates turned and looked at them suspiciously, with their eyes narrowing.

"What are you looking at?" one of them growled at the group.

"One hell of a ugly group of morons." The man who had glanced at them replied, making Ace and Marco look at him in annoyance for having said that.

"That's enough." Marco told him sternly through his teeth, looking at all his men seriously, "We are not here to start a fight. So shut your mouth and ignore them until we are out of here."

"Who do you think you are you bastards?!" another man from the group of pirates exclaimed as he stood up and looked at them in a menacing manner, "Do you even know who we are huh?"

"Nope. But I bet you must be from the local circus." The man replied agin, ignoring the order of Marco, his blood already boiling because of the alcohol they had just drunk.

"What?! Repeat that if you're a man!" one of the other pirates yelled, cracking the joints of his fingers menacingly.

Everything then escalated quickly and soon a fight had started between the two groups of pirates. Even Ace and Marco who had not taken part into the taunting and cursing hadn't had any other choice but to fight as they had been assimilated to that group. They had thought at first that it would be over and done with it rather easily as that group of pirates had looked like a bunch of pushovers more than anything.

However to their surprise that group of pirates was actually quite skilled and gave them more of a hard time than they had expected. Moreover, There were two of them who had devil fruit powers as well, and so Marco and Ace had to deal with them. As the fights became more intense, the different fighting pairs scattered a bit around the town so that they could fight without getting in the way of one another's fight.

However by doing this, Harry suddenly found himself left alone, as his mates and everyone else from the group were busy with one of the other pirates. Although he had also been fighting a pirate, he had managed to knock the latter off quite easily by using his phoenix powers.

He was now walking in the streets, looking frantically left and right as he looked for his mates. Though he knew they could hold their own in a fight, he still felt worried and uneasy whenever they were fighting and he wasn't by their side. He was so focused on searching for his mate that he didn't notice that someone was following him. It was only when he was hit on the back of the head and lost consciousness that he realized he had not been vigilant enough.

"I can't believe we got in trouble with another group of pirates just when we were told by the old man to be fast and not do anything stupid." Ace groaned, as he walked with Marco and the rest of group back to where they had been.

"We should have never stopped for a drink in the first place." Marco replied, looking rather annoyed by the whole situation and throwing a glare at the sheepish men who had started it.

Though they struggled a bit more than usual, they each managed to fight off their adversaries and make them run away rather rapidly.

"And now we have to find Harry." Ace said, a worried expression settling on his face at the thought of his mate, "I'm sure he didn't have any problems to deal with his adversary but still. I hope he is not hurt. It makes me go crazy that neither of us was there with him"

"Don't worry I'm sure everything went fine." Marco told him.

However when they arrived in front of the tavern where they had been separated, they saw no trace of the young hybrid.

"Where is he?" Ace asked, beginning to panic, as he didn't see his mate anywhere.

"Maybe he is on his way here or something." Marco tried to reason, although he was feeling as nervous and worried as his best friend, "Let's separate in pairs and go look for him. One will stay here just in case he comes here and we miss him."

They then began to search. Ace and Marco were searching together while the rest of the men had divided into pairs. They had let the remaining man stay in front of the tavern so that he would be here if the young man was to come there. They searched frantically high and low for the petite male, calling his name and looking in every corner of every street but with no success.

"Where could he have gone?" Ace asked more to himself than anyone else with a desperate look on his face.

Marco was about to say something when he stopped suddenly in front of an alley.

"What's wrong?" Ace asked, stopping as soon as the blond man had stopped as well.

Without saying anything, the phoenix man walked into the alley and stopped after a moment, crouching down and picking something up from the ground.

"Look. It's one of Harry's sandals." He said, showing the freckled pirate a small sandal that looked like the ones their mate was used to wear.

"What does that mean?" the dark haired man exclaimed, a panicked expression on his face as he realized what that meant, "He has been kidnapped?!"

"It would seem like it." The other man replied darkly.

"But by whom?!" Ace asked, having a hard time not to freak out at the idea that their mate had been kidnapped.

"I think it can only be those pirates that we fought earlier." Marco said, his brows creased as his mind was going full speed as he was trying to piece everything together, "They are the only outsiders on this island aside from us and I am certain that no one on this island would have an interest in kidnapping Harry. Moreover they clearly seemed not like the regular type of pirates…"

"Let's call the men and get back to the ship to tell Whitebeard." The freckled pirate quickly told him, not wanting to stay at the same place, "We need to chase after them and save Harry."

"Let's do that." The blond man said, quickly starting to run with the other to do what they had to do.

As they ran and called their men over and told them the situation, one single thought occupied their mind and it was to get Harry back by any means.

'Hang on Harry. We are coming.' They both thought, running toward the ship.

Meanwhile, on board of a ship that was getting further away from the island, Harry was slowly coming back to consciousness. As he was slowly awaking, his brain began to register people not far from him talking.

"This is a fine specimen. He is going to cost a lot." One of them said.

"Yeah. We can sell this beauty as a slave for a very nice amount of money. Those posh and nobles love exotic beings like this." Another one added with greasy laugh.

At hearing this, the young hybrid's heart rate increased and he opened his eyes fully as he was now fully awake. Those men wanted to sell him as a slave?! What was he doing here? Where was he? Where were his mates? All those questions kept spinning inside his head.

Suddenly the eyes of the men who were talking turned to look at him.

"Oh crap he is awake!" one of them exclaimed, "Quick give me the sedative. We need to keep him unconscious until we've put him in his cell."

Before Harry could do anything, he felt a needle prick his skin and let a liquid flow inside his blood, making him quickly lose consciousness again. Before he lost completely consciousness, he managed to look at his kidnappers' face, recognizing the pirates that they had faced earlier.

_TBC_


End file.
